A/N: Just a quick explanation so you don't get confused; in this fanfic the fairies' wings never disappear like they do in the canon, they stay hidden under their shirts (or dress or whatever you know what I mean) and press tightly to the back so it's nearly unnoticeable… So this is chapter two (obviously), enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 2: Horrible Parties and Horrible Fairies
Alfheim
The party was grand, in its own delicate way, and it was absolutely not Prince Kirito's idea of a good time. Nobles and all the other richest of the rich fairies of Alfheim had arrived in their most expensive and froufrou ball dresses and suits, as well as with the snobbiest of attitudes.
"Kill me, kill me right freaking now." Kirito groaned as his mother fit the last finishing touches of the suffocating little devil she called a suit.
"Oh now, stop complaining it looks marvelous on you!" she spoke in enthusiasm.
"It's not black." Kirito stated, as he stared into the mirror at the bright red of the suit he had been forced into, as if this fact alone was enough proof that it was in fact awful.
"Emo much?" Klein mumbled from near the door to the room.
"Not funny Klein, you know I hate flashy things, and red is the very definition of flashy." Kirito whined, looking down right miserable.
"At least it's not white; you'd really stand out then" Agil added with a laugh at the thought of Kirito in white, it just wasn't meant to be.
"You look so handsome! Oh my baby boy is all grown up!" The Queen squealed in excitement.
Kirito just stared at her like she had gone mad, "I can't breathe." Was all he had to say on the matter.
"Ok!" His mom stated, completely disregarding Kirito's opinion of the outfit, with an enthusiastic fist in the air "We can't keep the guest waiting any longer!" She exclaimed as she marched out the door and down the hall. Three heads poked out the doorway to watch her leave.
"Wow… I can't breathe, I look like a clown, and my party is going to suck no doubt...will one of you please stab me?" Kirito complained.
"But she's so enthusiastic; she might have a panic attack if you pull anything, and what a shame it'd be if you die before you even get to eat all that good food." Klein added, Kirito glared at him while Agil just shook his head. He didn't even want to think about whatever crazy ideas must be floating around Kirito's head at the moment. He was bound to be thinking up some ridiculous escape plan as he did every year.
Kirito shook his head as if to recover from Klein's idiocy, "Oh? You can bet every single one of those snobby rich fairies in that room will have quite the heart attack…I'll make this party a night to remember." Kirito stated with an almost evil smile and an unnerving chuckle as he retreated from the door way and back into the room.
"Hey, aren't you a snobby rich fairy yourself?" Klein added as he followed Kirito back into the room, Agil soon after. Both of them were completely unfazed with the eerie warning spoken by the young prince.
"EH?! What are you talking about?! I'm not snobby!"
"Yeah that's what they all say." Agil said with a straight face.
"Right?" Klein laughed
"…and this is about the time I tune you both out." Kirito stated as he turned away from the two to start trying to get the horrid suit off himself, a task that was proving to be rather difficult with the way it was made. He scanned the room for something to assist with the problem, his eyes landing on a pair of scissors.
As the two guards continued to drone on and on about all the reasons why Kirito was in fact a snobby rich fairy, the sound of cloth ripping filled the giant room. The reaction was almost instantaneous:
"What the heck are you doing?! Don't rip up your suit Kirito!" Agil practically yelled in panic with a 'are you an idiot' look written all over his face as he reached forward to stop the teen. Unfortunately for him Kirito was fast enough to get out of his reach again as he continued to cut up the suit.
"Dude come on, your mother will kill us!" Klein added desperately, also trying to grab the teen, but by this point it was a lost cause.
"I'm not wearing this." Kirito deadpanned as he finished removing the outfit and threw it in the fireplace to burn. Both guards watched it burn in misery, they were doomed.
He put on his usual black pants and shirt and threw on a long black coat over it, making himself look semi -more decent, once he finished pulling on some long black boots he sighed in relief.
"Was that really necessary?" Both Klein and Agil stated with matching looks of exasperation.
"Yes. It needed to go, don't even try to tell me it looked halfway decent on me, that outfit was awful in every meaning of the word and you know it." He continued with a straight face as he made his way across the room towards the door before stopping to look back at his defeated-looking guards. It was his birthday, he should be able to wear what he wanted at the very least.
"That's not the point." Both guards stated tiredly. The prince could never make their job easy could he?
A long silence passed over them all before Klein finally nodded his head in understanding, as the more he thought about it… the more he had to agree with Kirito's actions.
"Ok, it probably was for the best that he burned the suit...Not gonna lie...and I really have to say; ruffles just aren't your style man." Klein continued while trying to keep a straight face.
"What? I thought it looked rather dashing on him" Agil added with thick sarcasm in his voice.
The two guards glanced at each other thinking about the suit again for a moment before simultaneously bursting into laughter. "Yeah laugh it up; my pain is just so hilarious." Kirito mumbled in annoyance, his voice thick with sarcasm.
"Kirito! Come on already, you need to come greet our guests!"
"Yes Mother I'm coming!" He called back, heading out the room.
After Kirito rounded the corner to where his mother's voice called from, his guards following closely behind him, a scream of panic pelted through the air.
"What have you done with your suit?!" The queen screamed when she finally saw her son.
Kirito just laughed in response.
Earth
"Honestly…How did she fit this much stuff in such a little house?!" Asuna groaned to herself in exasperation as she dug through yet another mountain of books. Three hours now she had been going through pile after pile and then cleaning up after each one, She was absolutely robbed of energy and the end was still nowhere in sight.
She picked up yet another book, flipped through it briefly to see what condition it was in, and then preceded to place it in the proper pile while reaching for the next, the repetitive process that was by now becoming very old. The book now in her hands was familiar she discovered, as she glanced at it with a smile and traced the outline of a fairies' silhouette on the cover with her finger. There was no mistaking it; it was without a doubt the book her grandmother used to read to her from when she was little.
As she flipped it open a piece of paper of fell out, reaching down with a confused look upon her face, Asuna discovered she was holding an average map of the nearby park only a couple minuets walk from the little cottage she presently stood in.
"Weird place to put a park map Grandma…" she mumbled to herself before noticing a random spot marked towards the right corner of the map and nearly illegible words listed on the back in her grandmother's writing.
OldGateway, Still closed,
Magic still evident.
Those were the only words to be found on the paper, those of which only made for one severely confused Asuna.
"What?" was all she said.
Alfheim
"How the heck did you manage to make the punch explode!?" The Queen screamed in frustration at the mess.
"A magician never reveals his tricks" Kirito stated with a goofy smile across his face, he was completely unaffected by his mother's rage.
"Well…they can all kiss their nice dresses and suits goodbye because they are absolutely ruined." Agil stated as he glanced about the room at all the fairies attempting to dab the stains out with looks of extreme frustration. A few of them who were daring enough, shot glares at the young prince to which he returned happily causing those daring fairies to not so daringly hide behind their closest companions.
"But you got to admit it was hilarious. I mean did you see their faces?!" Klein added with a laugh.
"This is not something to laugh at!" The queen yelled, causing both guards to flinch and apologize immediately. While the queen was busy going off on Kirito's guards, Kirito took the opportunity to do what he had been trying to do the whole night; sneak away. He never was one for attention and a party hosted over him was too much for his comfort, not like this was a new thing, his mother just got more enthusiastic with every year he got older. This enthusiasm made sneaking away early impossible and still a challenge later, however Kirito happily discovered on his tenth birthday that if he created his own chaos then the feat became much more possible.
And so we arrive upon exploding punch , among many other things not needed to be mentioned, and one angry Queen.
Kirito dashed down the halls with a smile as he raced towards the nearest balcony and leapt off with his black wings springing forth into the slits in his shirt, the silence of the night soon interrupted by the sound of a sonic boom and loud cheering. He was finally free and he knew exactly where he wanted to go first.
Not a moment later he landed outside a small blacksmithing shop to greet an old friend.
"Lizbeth?" He called as he entered the building. A girl with pink hair and smirk upon her face waltzed out from the back.
"You were here an hour earlier last time." She said as she casually glanced at the clock on the wall.
"Why do you count what time I get here every birthday? It's really weird..." Kirito asked as he sauntered over to lean on the counter before the girl with a teasing smile.
"It's simple every year you're exactly one hour later than the year before, I find it amusing and am just waiting for the day you break the pattern." Liz laughed.
"I'll break it once my mother stops being so obsessed about birthday parties. Are you finished with the swords I requested this year?" Kirito asked impatiently, excitement at the idea of them being done flashing across his eyes.
"I already told you I need about a week more." Liz replied just as impatiently.
"Yeah, yeah I was just checking…" Kirito stated disappointed but not surprised as he turned to leave.
"By the way Kirito, where are your guards?" Liz asked in concern, it was too risky for him to run around like that, completely defenseless. He is the prince of all of Alfheim after all.
"I had to leave them behind this time unfortunately."
"Don't tell me you don't even have a weapon?!" She exclaimed in panic, what was the idiot thinking?!
"No… I don't…" He answered sheepishly
Lizbeth just shook her head, "Grab one of those daggers and just give it back to me later. I won't have my friend waltzing around vulnerable to being attacked like that." She stated with a look that said it wasn't an option to refuse as she pointed to a specific table.
"Are you sure?" Kirito asked surprised.
"Yes."
He sighed before walking over to the table before picking up one random dagger and sliding it into a small pocket up his sleeve, easily accessible for the very purpose of self-defense. He genuinely smiled, a rare sight, as he turned to Liz and thanked her.
"Be safe and see you in a week!" Liz called with a smile as he waved in response before leaving.
"Well now that's out of the way…what to do..." Kirito mumbled to himself as he walked down the nearly deserted street. Except for a strange hooded fairy that stood leaning against a wall humming to himself and a couple, whose faces were also hidden, sitting on a bench he just passed, he was alone. For some reason they all made him feel uneasy though. He was just about to unfurl his wings and make for a quick exit when he suddenly felt the hair rise on the back of his neck. He whirled around to see the couple standing directly behind him with just their smiles showing.
"You're the Prince are you not?" They asked in synch, their voices void of emotion. A moment too late Kirito realized the humming stopped, and before he could pull out the knife, a strange smelling cloth clamped over his mouth and nose, he struggled for only a moment before his vision went black.
Earth
Asuna had spent a whole hour's worth debating with herself about what to do, before deciding that her curiosity was too great not to go see what her grandmother meant by the map. She quickly ran home, packed a flashlight, and anything else she would need for the hike before setting off to the park, she concluded if she waited till the next day she would not sleep that night. Somewhere in the back of her brain her thoughts warned her it was stupid and risky to go out hiking alone in a park late at night, but she was much too stubborn to listen.
It didn't even occur to her to leave a note for her mother, had she known what lay ahead of her maybe she would have.
In fact maybe she wouldn't have even left.
Alfheim
"Kirito?" The Queen called as she glanced around the party worriedly; he was causing trouble somewhere no doubt.
"Ah Evangeline, I must say this party has been…interesting." A voice sounded to her right. The Queen turned to the person speaking to her with a scowl, it was a certain snobby noblewoman who was always trying to weasel an arranged marriage with Kirito every chance she got. Eve or better known by the titles her Majesty, the Queen, or Mother, absolutely refused to allow such a thing to happen. Her son would marry a fine lady of his own picking when he felt ready, that was the one thing she vowed she would not let herself decide for him the day he was born.
"Clarisse, I don't have time for this, I need to find my son." She answered shortly before turning away and heading over to Kirito's guards, only becoming more worried when she noticed they seemed to be in a panic.
"Where is Kirito?" she asked the two, they both froze and turned to her wide eyed with terror. She had just finished going off on them before she had gotten distracted and dashed off only moments before. She would undoubtedly do it again when they answered said question and rightfully so since it was their duty to watch over the young prince, still to lie to the queen would be idiocy at its finest.
"We don't know." They both answered at the same time, obviously coming upon the same conclusion.
"You…What do you mean you don't know! You're his personal guards you should be with him at all times!" She screamed, silence fell over the entire room. "Roy, Come here I am in need of your assistance!" The queen called to her own personal guard and the general of the army, he was always so silent, many often forgot he was there.
"Yes your majesty?"
"I need you to help them find my son as soon as possible, the messes he gets himself into when he's on his own…" She shook her head as a distressed look briefly crossed her face, "Call all the guards to assistance; I want to see my son safely before me as soon as possible!"
"Right away your majesty." Roy answered with a bow before dashing off to command the entire guard into action.
"Your Majesty, isn't this overreacting a little? He's snuck out plenty of times before and on almost all his birthdays…" Agil asked.
"There are three reasons I'm about to panic: One the Salamander resistance has been more aggressive and active lately, can you imagine what they'd do if they got their hands on my son?"
Both guards eyes widened in horror.
"Two I have a really bad feeling, and three he has always took the two of you with him when he did sneak out. He is all alone, weaponless I assume and there are enemies that would just love to get their hands on him. What's more, correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't he have a routine of checking in with the blacksmith every time he does."
"Oh shit…He's practically a sitting duck!" Klein panicked grabbing a fist full of his hair and tugging on it as if by doing so it will calm his panic. If Kirito got hurt it would be their fault for failing him and not being there for him in his time of need.
Before anyone could respond, the sound of laughter filled the room. Every fairy turned to glance up at a sight that made every single one of the fairy's blood run cold.
Two of the most powerful men in the Salamander resistance sat up upon one of the ledges that lined the wall, in decoration, smiling like they had just won the lottery.
The guards who were just stationed and about to go on the search for Kirito rushed forward wielding their weapons threateningly.
"I'd be careful if I was you." One of the men stated with a sinister grin.
"Yeah, one word from us and Prince Kirito is a dead fairy." The other laughed. The queen gasped eyes wide in horror. Klein and Agil didn't look too better off, the rest of the room seemed to go in shock.
"Where's Kirito?! What have you done with my son?!" The Queen screamed nearly in hysterics.
"Trion cast the spell." The first commanded, the other nodded his head before casting the spell "Moonlight Mirror" almost instantly an image sprang forth and there was Kirito, eyes wide in terror with a knife pressed to his throat. They stood right on the ledge of the cliff that leads into the drop known as the Old Gateway.
A/N: So I hope you enjoyed the chapter, sorry for the way to many point of view changes that's going to stop and become one point of view after the next chapter. If you have any questions feel free to ask (I'm cool with being PMed) and please review if you have the time.
Peace out