So I felt bad that I didn't include an actual fight scene in the last chapter, so I did my best with a magical one this time around. You'd think that actually having experience would make fight scenes easier, but you'd be wrong. I tried though, there will be fight scenes later, I'll redeem myself then.
Shouyou is little more than a red blur, flying directly at Kei, dominant hand drawn back, while the other lays flat, acting as a guide for the punch that will surely come. Kei side steps the attack easily. The magic making up his pseudo wings stretches forward to tangle a few tendrils around Shouyou's legs and arms. The blue engulfs his limbs, spreads up his wings to keep them from fluttering, and leaves Shouyou perfectly helpless.
"What? That's cheating!" Shouyou shouts indignantly, trying to beat his way out of Kei's magic.
It's no use.
"You have to consider the possibility that an enemy will have tangible magic. If so, look out for it. Everyone you face will have different ways of using their magic, you need to be prepared for anything," Kei says, dropping Shouyou. "Offensive magic usually travels out of the hands and feet, neutralizing those areas will almost always render your opponent helpless.
"Almost?"
"Tanaka can breathe fire if he so chooses," Kei says easily, "so it stands to reason that there may be beings out there with similar capabilities. They may also have tails, it's possible to conduct magic through a tail in the same way one would their arms."
"Like Matsukawa and Hanamaki?"
"Correct. Just keep in mind possible exit routes through magic and neutralize them."
"Well, what about…" Shouyou gestures to Kei's pseudo wings.
"That requires a bit of thought." Kei holds out his left arm, and gestures to the magic racing along it with his right. "You can see the direction the magic is traveling, all you have to do is neutralize the source and they'll vanish."
Shouyou nods like it makes all the sense in the world, and Kei waits for the inevitable question.
"How do I do that exactly?"
Kei begins his explanation. They're on opposite ends of the elemental spectrum, but the concept is the same. Solidify, extend, and hold. Kei has Shouyou practice solidifying stationary magic for a few minutes. Once he's gotten the hang of that, Kei tries to help him create deliberate extensions.
"You can ask Tanaka for help as well, he should be of better assistance than I am," Kei mumbles, he's loathe to admit it, but it's a fact. "We need to continue with your practice."
The Sun God takes up a fighting stance, his glow brightening from where it had dimmed.
"Right. Ready!"
This time, Shouyou waits for Kei to attack first. Twin spheres of swirling blue magic come flying through the air, one aimed at Shouyou's face, the other at his stomach. Kei's not aiming to cause damage, this magic is tame, little more than light with spelled pressure, but it certainly looks dangerous.
In an attempt to incorporate what he's learned, red strains of magic envelop the blue. It doesn't do much, practicing a technique in relative peace is different than using the technique when a projectile is hurtling through the air.
The red vanishes, having only momentarily slowed the blue.
Shouyou's wings close around his body a split second before the magic hits. The blue disperses against his feathers, and Shouyou peaks through after a moment.
"How was that?" he asks.
Kei wants to lecture him about stopping a fight before it's even really begun, that a proper opponent would have used his pause to hit him again.
But he nods all the same. Shouyou made an attempt, it's a good start.
"Your reaction time will be a good advantage for you when you're in a real fight."
When, not if.
Shouyou positively keens, smiling wide as he flaps his wings, shooting up into the sky. He comes back down a moment later.
And, oh, how great it would be to have an aerial practice battle. It's completely different, fighting without touching the ground. There's a higher chance for injury, for imbalance. But there are things to be done in the sky that aren't even possible on the ground. Kei misses it. He would take an aerial battle over ground combat any time. But these wings, made only of magic, have no actual flight capabilities, just the same near impenetrable defense as his actual wings. So used to them being at his back, Kei's magic still spreads to cover an expanse that has long since vanished.
"Ready?" Kei asks.
"Ready!"
Kei starts with a quick succession of attacks, followed by tendrils of tangible magic. Shouyou flies up high and fast to avoid the spheres of blue, summoning a mass of white magic to his hands. He uses his magic to block Kei's, changing the white from a shapeless blob into two flat platforms.
He throws them, and with speed that Kei isn't expecting.
Kei brings his hands up, dark blue magic gathering at his fingertips and he reaches out, just barely touching the platforms. They erupt into something akin to fine sand, perfectly harmless as it creates a cloud of obscurity. From above, Shouyou can't see anything, Kei's vision isn't too great either. He conjures up a small mass of blue light a short ways away and waits for Shouyou to go after it.
As expected, he does.
Kei makes to wrap him up in magic again but Shouyou notices at the last second and spins, the gust from his wings blowing away the cloud. With their vision no longer impaired, they begin again.
Short distance fighting seems to work best for Shouyou, he does his best to keep in Kei's personal space, and he's holding his own fairly well.
Until Kei kicks it up a notch anyways.
With a muttered spell, Shouyou's projected magic disappears.
Bewildered, he looks up to Kei for an explanation.
"Magic cancellation, this is where being proficient with a physical weapon would be useful."
Shouyou's gaze widens and Kei's expecting him to get upset, instead he smiles and flaps up into the air, flipping excitedly.
"That's so cool! I didn't know you could do that! Will it wear off? How does it work? When do I get my magic back? Where did it go? Can you teach me?"
Kei blinks, trying to process the onslaught of questions. Once Shouyou touches back down, Kei allows his own magic to dissipate and releases the hold he has on the Sun God's magic. Shouyou blazes red before he let's his magic vanish, wholly transfixed on watching Kei's magic instead.
Kei knows his eyes are fixed on the pseudo wings in the process of disappearing, knows that he wants to ask. Before he gets the chance, Kei sets to answering his questions.
"It's like a seal," he begins, turning his palms face up.
Two small masses of light, one blue and one red, take shape in either hand. The blue shapes itself into a silhouette of Kei, and the red into one of Shouyou. Each miniature erupts into a light colored haze, representative of their magic.
"This is you and me," Kei says, "My magic created a seal over yours, blocking your access to it." A tendril of the blue light drifts over to the red, enveloping it in a thin layer. The haze around Shouyou's figure disappears, replaced by the blue.
"My magic wasn't actually gone then?"
"No, you just couldn't use it."
"How long could you do that for?"
"Depends on how powerful my opponent is. The more magic there is to contain, the more energy and focus I'd have to use. Against someone like you or Goshiki, I could cancel your magic as long as I wanted. Tanaka would take a bit more energy, and I could probably only cancel someone like Sugawara or Iwaizumi for a few seconds. Though, a few seconds can be incredibly useful in battle."
"Wow! That's so cool!"
Kei finds himself grinning at Shouyou's enthusiasm.
"So, how do you do it? Can you teach me?"
"I can try, it's not something everyone can do."
"I don't care! I still want to try!"
Shouyou ends up getting called back some time later, having only partially grasped the concept of magic cancellation, another summons through the metal disk he keeps in his pocket.
"Thank you for this," he says.
Kei's already got his response prepared, but he promptly forgets it when Shouyou comes flying at him. After a few heartbeats, Kei realizes that Shouyou's legs are wrapped around his waist, and that the tight pressure at his neck is from Shouyou's arms, which means that the orange blur taking up most of his vision is Shouyou's hair.
This is a hug.
Hesitantly, and a little stiffly, Kei returns the gesture, patting Shouyou's back.
Shouyou leans back a little, and Kei instinctively wraps his arms around Shouyou's waist to keep him from falling, it's a useless action.
"Your face is all red," Shouyou giggles.
Kei lets go immediately, taking in Shouyou's startled expression before the god's wings get the message and flap once to keep him up.
"Shut up," Kei mumbles.
Shouyou only lets out a bright laugh before he flies off.
Kei turns around, ready to go back inside, only to find Yamaguchi leaning against a tree, a brilliant smile on his face.
"Yamaguchi-"
"It's nice to see you happy again," Yamaguchi says.
"What are you talking about?" Kei wanders over to the cliff's edge, and Yamaguchi follows.
"You smile more when you're around him.
Kei bites back his retort, he knows Yamaguchi is right.
Yamaguchi knows that too.
"So, magic lessons?"
"I taught him the basics. Tanaka would be a better choice, element wise."
"Don't pretend you don't enjoy it," Yamaguchi says, still smiling.
"I'm not pretending."
Another bout of laughter, and Kei makes sure to keep his head tilted so as to hide the blush that refuses to go away.
"It's not a bad thing, really." Yamaguchi says after a moment. "In any case, Sugawara wanted me to let you know that we're starting preparations for Hinata's officiation. Kuroo's dealing with some kind of backlog, so it's taking a bit longer than usual."
"Backlog?" The blush practically drains from his cheeks.
"He mentioned it in the meeting? Some of the numbers aren't adding up, it's just a few discrepancies, but you know how he gets."
Oh, it's only just dawning on Kei. Occasionally, he forgets that not everyone knows the minute goings on of the other gods. Kuroo catalogues every death that happens on their world, if he's getting numbers that don't match with the information he receives, of course it would cause concern.
"I'm sure it's nothing major," Kei says.
Yamaguchi draws in a sigh.
"You know why, don't you?" he asks after a few minutes. He doesn't sound accusatory, just a little tired, expectant.
"If I did, I couldn't tell you." Kei's sick of this, sick of all of it. But it's not like he has a choice.
"You remember that one battle in the far North, the force intent on sneaking into the Palace?" Yamaguchi's voice is small, but not at all weak, he sounds far away. He's thinking back, the battles in the far North weren't exactly easy jaunts.
"What are you getting at, Tadashi?"
It was after they'd been separated from Saeko. Kageyama was caught up with a brute, an enemy twelve times his size, so Yamaguchi and Kei had been left to handle the several dozen smaller opponents on their own. The only way to win that day had been to play Yamaguchi's greatest trump card. Other gods underestimate Yamaguchi, they always have.
As the Constellation God, Yamaguchi wields control over all the beasts and heroes he's immortalized amongst the stars. Some of which used to have quite the reputation as bloodthirsty fighters. It's a mind meld of sorts, though maybe possession fits the situation better. His power swells to immeasurable levels as he's cocooned in Starlight. He becomes the center for a constellation figure, appearing with a faint outline but entirely solid and deadly. Unfortunately, Yamaguchi turns over his control to the absolute, he can't shut it off on his own. Prolonged exposure to the constellation isn't excessively detrimental to Yamaguchi, but once the immediate enemy is dealt with, the beast will turn to the next warm body.
Which is where Kei's magic cancellation ability comes in handy.
"I trust you enough to make sure I don't kill anyone we care about. I also know that you can't tell me everything that happens, bound by the keys and such. But, can you at least trust me, and not lie to my face?"
"Yamaguchi, that's not-"
"I don't need details. But with whatever's happening with Kuroo's numbers- Daichi's been in and out at irregular times, Yahaba's been portal jumping erratically, Akaashi has I don't know how many different time fields running, and Suga's rushing to get Hinata initiated...Just let me know, do we need to be worried, Kei?"
This is definitely a situation he doesn't want to be in. But Yamaguchi's eyes are bright, nearly painful to look at, and his stars are starting to turn red. A few of the constellations are swirling, some of the angrier ones, ones that Kei is quite glad aren't around anymore.
Kei can't tell him about Daichi's runs to the outer edges, and how that affects Kuroo's numbers. He can't tell him why Akaashi has so many time fields set up, or where Yahaba's going.
Or what events Shouyou becoming official may trigger.
"I don't know," Kei says at last, voice cracking as he drops his head to his hands. "I don't- I don't know...maybe- or- I don't know, Tadashi."
Crying isn't a habit he has, it's not something he enjoys doing, but Kei can feel the frustrated tears burning, threatening to spill down his cheeks.
He hates this. Hates the painful choking that comes with uttering something that even implicates the secret. Hates having to lie over and over again. Hates the keys he puts so much effort into. He hates the aspects that he's inherited, and the aspects he's always had. He hates his title.
Above all, he hates how there's nothing he can do about it.
"I'm sorry," Yamaguchi whispers, moving closer, pulling Kei into a tight hug. "I'm sorry."
Kei shakes his head. He draws in a deep breath and quickly wipes away his unshed tears. He sits up straight, but doesn't shrug off Yamaguchi's arms.
"No, don't apologize." he brings his hands to rub his face. Yamaguchi lets go, but keeps one hand on Kei's shoulder.
Kei collects himself and draws in another breath.
"Things are happening," he says flatly, "and, the most likely outcome is that, everything will come to light. Whether or not we truly have to worry has yet to be determined."
His throat is tight, but he'd not choked, so it's okay.
Before he can lapse into an unseemly display, Kei pushes himself up to stand, taking Yamaguchi with him.
"I'll be in my workshop," he says. Part of him wants to stay outside, but there are things to do, keys to make.
It is an open invitation, however, one he expects Yamaguchi to take. Much like Shouyou, Yamaguchi's always liked watching him work. When they were younger, just coming into their magic, they would practice together with Akiteru, as well as Oikawa and Aone. Yamaguchi used to say that the only time he ever saw Kei look truly happy was when he had magic gathering at his fingertips.
Yamaguchi smiles.
"I think I can spare some time."
Much like previous chapters, I dance around plot points and backstories like I'm intentionally trying to make these difficult. This whole thing is just a convoluted mess of hints and events that are shady as all hell.
I digress.
Character chart is on the tumblr, wire-pudding, it has the characters that have been in the story, and a few that have been mentioned. I have neglected to include a couple of them, simply because I don't want to spoil anything too major. If you have questions, please ask them! You can ask in a review, or on tumblr if you'd like to actually have a discussion/conversation through messaging.
