Fandom Dynasties and Destinies

[CJWrites]

silenttiger43

Yuuri frowned as he nursed his right ankle. He savoured the dull pain travelling throughout his body as he rubbed his tumb along the sprain. He tugged his navy blue kimono tighter and shivered as a cold breeze passed through. Yuuri could light a fire but there was no wood around. Dusk was approaching quickly and there was no way he could get to the next town before then. He would have to sit here and hope for the best throughout the night. He cursed as he remembered the envoy his cousin wanted to send with him. How much he would give to have said yes back then.

Suddenly, Yuuri realized how vulnerable he was sitting out in the open. He gripped his katana tightly. He couldn't stay here long. Gingerly, Yuuri pushed his weight onto his good foot, managing to hop a couple of before falling. Pain shot through his leg and he let out a yelp as he landed on his bad foot. He clutched his right leg tightly as he whimpered in pain. Great. He'd possibly made it worse.

 

[silenttiger43]

This had been a disaster.
King Victor Nikiforov, Lord of the largest country on the continent, Ice Mage prodigy, dragon tamer, was lost as balls. If there was one thing that Victor did not have, it was a sense of direction and that was only made worse by the fact that he couldn't really tell the position of the sun through the trees and the fact he kept trying to remember; did the sun rise in the east or the west? He thought he was heading North, prayed he was heading North really.

And how had he gotten himself in this pickle? Orientals, that's how. Those blasted, selfish fiends along Ruthenia's south eastern border had seen fit to attack his envoy and forced Victor to retreat into the forest to lose them. Thankfully he seemed to have done that much but now he'd lost himself to. Thankful for small miracles, Victor knew at least that the woods meant he had to be between Ruthenia and some part of his friend's Swiss country but he'd been trekking through the rough forest terrain for a few days now and his stomach was begging for him to find something to eat.

By the gods, he was going to starve out here wasn't he? Victor took a breath and swallowed down the panic that rose in his chest, desperately missing the company of his dragon. Why had he left her behind? Oh right, she'd gone off north for awhile to spend time in Dragon's Cove. She liked to do that on occasion, to spend time with her own kind but she always came back to Victor's side in the end.

Pausing for a moment in his trek to catch his breath, Victor leaned against a tree and tried to peer up through the leaves, another pitiful attempt at discerning his location and one that ended like all the rest. Shaking his head, the King swept a curtain of silver hair over his shoulder, it's splendor now entwined with leaves that probably made him look like a mythical wood elf or something equally ridiculous.

A sound broke the peaceful silence of the wood and Victor jumped, pressing his back against a tree as his vibrant blue eyes scanned the area for the source of the cry. It hadn't sounded threatening, perhaps it wasn't even the Orient still looking for him-maybe it was his own people?! No, it sounded hurt more than anything else and that was reason enough to head towards the sound. Victor wove through the forest with practiced ease at this point and cautiously stepped out onto a clearing. Spotting the source of the yelp he moved forward quickly, coming around from behind him and immediately kneeling to look at the clearly injured leg.

"That doesn't look good, are you alr-" Victor stopped, mid sentence as his eyes lifted towards the injured man's face. That was not the face of a Ruthenian, nor was it Swiss. The features of the Orient were clear, this man was his enemy. But... he was also injured, and apparently alone. Victor's ice coloured eyes darted around the area briefly to confirm that he was, in fact, alone.

 

[CJWrites]

Yuuri stared at the small patch of thinning silver hair as the... Man? Woman? Examined his injured foot. The head lifted and Yuuri gasped. He was beautiful, almost ethereal looking. He gazed into the stranger's crystal blue eyes as they quickly turned from concern to shock.

His own dull brown ones must have shown shock as well but then the stranger's eyes turned ice cold, darting around the path, and Yuuri's expression quickly turned to one of horror as he realized what was happening. The man had a Ruthenian accent. If he wasn't mistaken, this forest was close to the Ruthenian border. His first instinct was to run. He pushed with his arms and left leg, trying to scamper away, but out of instinct and losing his balance, Yuuri used his right foot.

"Aaarrgghhh" He yelled.

His sword lay forgotten in the ground as he clutched his ankle. Not that it mattered. There was no room to draw it from this height anyway. He fearfully gazed into the Ruthenian's eyes, wondering what would become of him.

His mind was racing. Would this man recognize him as the vassal king of Yamato? His clothes were nothing fancy but rather something anyone well to do might wear in his country. But if the Ruthenian looked through his pack discarded near the trees, the red robes with gold lining would be a dead giveaway. Only the imperial family is allowed to wear yellow or gold fabric. But would this man know that?

Maybe it was for the best. Yuuri's eyes softened and his shoulders slumped. He wasn't fit to rule anyone, let alone all of Yamato. That's why he took up so many diplomatic assignments. Mari seemed to take to running a country like a fish to water. Maybe it was for the best if he died here.

 

[silenttiger43]

The injured man had tried to run, actually tried to get up on that mangled leg to make a break for it. Victor might have face-palmed if he wasn't so immediately concerned. No eyes that soft should ever bare pain like they did now and Victor surged forward, placing two hands around the injured ankle and sending a pulse of gentle cold through the limb. Not enough to freeze but enough to ease the pain and help reduce any swelling.

"You should not be moving like that." Victor scolded gently, as though they weren't clearly supposed to be enemies. He raised his gaze to examine the man's features, looking for any ill will or malicious intent but all he could see was someone down on his luck, with an injured leg and the most beautiful complexion that Victor had ever seen. His black hair was disheveled in just the most perfect way and as the Oriental slumped his shoulder in such defeat, Victor felt a twinge of guilt.

"I'm not going to hurt you" the King of Ruthenia promised and by all accounts he meant it. Leaning forward, Victor slipped a finger under the man's chin to tilt his eyes back up to look at him, "It's going to be okay. What is your name?" he offered a smile, one that he hoped was encouraging enough to build a basic kind of trust between them, even if it was only temporary.

 

[CJWrites]

Yuuri sighed in contentment and relief swept over his body and the pain subsided somewhat. This man must be a healer, that's why he won't hurt Yuuri.

A cold hand lifted his chin and he was forced to stare into the stranger's beautiful face, now devoid of any malice. His silver strands of hair fell over his knee.

"My name?" Yuuri stuttered. "It's Yuu-" He stopped, realizing he probably shouldn't give his real name. His eyes darted around and landed on a tree with small unripened yellow fruit.

"Yuzu" he blurted out. "My name is Yuzu"

Other than that he was speechless. What was he supposed to say?

"Um.... Thank you." Yuuri flushed.

 

[silenttiger43]

"Well then" Victor nodded, his mind racing for a moment to think of a name that wouldn't so obviously brand him as King Victor of Ruthenia but all he could think of in his head was, don't say Victor, don't say Victor, don't say Victor, "You can call me Viiiiiii-chan" Fuck. He'd seriously almost said Victor. What a ridiculous sounding name, ah well, he'd be stuck with it for only a short while. He gave Yuzu a cheery smile, "Pleased to meet you Yuzu. I'll admit I'm a little lost actually" he gave a nervous laugh, "If you know the way to the nearest town, perhaps we can help each other?"

Victor wasn't exactly wearing commoner's clothes, nor anything that would brand him a soldier or a medic. His outfit was in a variety of blues-or at least they had been before he went stumbling around the wild forest and gotten them covered in mud and leaves. The delicate fabric of his tunic was a sky blue base with navy embroidery embellished across the chest and accented with silver threaded highlights. He had been wearing a deeply navy cloak that shimmered with constellations that had been beaded in place.

Shrugging the cloak off his shoulders, he draped it around Yuzu, "but perhaps we should wait to move until morning?" he offered, the sun would be setting soon and that leg needed as much rest as possible. There would soon be a chill in the air once the sun went down and Victor glanced around again, this time searching for firewood as opposed to enemy combatants. "Do... do you know how to make a fire?" he cocked his head to the side curiously at the injured man.

 

[CJWrites]

Yuuri laughed a little. He gratefully accepted the cloak, shivering as he wrapped it around himself.

"Vichan. That's the name of our guard dog when I was a child. His name was Viraj, gifted from a southern lord but my cousin called him ViVi and I mostly called him Vi-chan" His smile turned a bit sad as he remembered the dog's death but he pushed it from his mind

"The next town is a couple of hours down this path," Yuuri said. He looked around at the orange hue starting to tinge the blue sky and frowned. "But you're right. It's getting late. I know how to make a fire, but we'll need some wood first."

He felt useless, sitting here unable to move.

"You made my foot feel better, is it possible for you to heal it?" Yuuri asked tentatively.

 

[silenttiger43]

Ohh greeeaat, he had picked a dog name. The King of the north was a fucking dog. Victor sighed at that but tried not to dwell on the fact. "I'm no healer" he shook his head at the man's question, "just gifted with ice magic" gifted, it was a northern term used seeing as unlike the Orients, Ruthenians allowed the magic to choose them. It meant each individual mage didn't tend to branch out into many forms at once but rather stuck with one type. "On the bright side, I do not get cold" Victor flashed a cheery smile, "you can keep the cloak if you like."

Venturing down the side of the path, Victor began collecting some firewood and... he really didn't know what he needed. He just grabbed any old stick, regardless of size or what type of tree it came from, he even broke off some that still had leaves on them. Dumping the pile before the man he knew as Yuzu with a look of pride that he had managed to do something so basic for himself. He'd never had a need to build his own fire, this was kind of fun!

 

[CJWrites]

Yuuri looked at the twigs and sticks of various sizes Vichan brought back. His ice magic explained why he didn't know how to gather firewood.

"This is a good start." He agreed. Luckily the night was crisp and dry, otherwise, he had no doubt Vichan would come back with sopping wet wood.

He started positioning the sticks in a conical circle, all their tips propping the other sticks up.

"We'll need a bit of tinder," He said. "Like bark or moss, something that's easy to catch fire. And later we'll need actual lumber because sticks run out pretty fast, Big logs, perhaps from a dead tree?"

Once the other man obliged and brought him the tinder, Yuuri cupped his hands and a small flame appeared. Gingerly, he placed it over the teepee he made and let it drop. The moss and bark caught fire immediately and slowly the kindling began to as well.

"You should show me your ice magic sometime." Yuuri said, still watching the flames lap away at the twigs, "When I'm not so cold. I'm sure it's wonderful."

Yuuri had never really seen Occidental Magic before. Sure he'd spent a lot of time in the New World but he'd only seen it from afar and neither JJ or Leo were well versed enough to show him. He wondered how different it was from Oriental Magic

 

[silenttiger43]

Victor knelt by Yuzu as he watched with fascination at the way he positioned the wood. He was careful to keep his distance however, fire and ice did not exactly get along and he rather disliked the overwhelming heat. The only reason he had offered was because he noticed most other people required the warmth to avoid silly things like, freezing to death in the middle of the night.
As he watched the flames grow, Victor's stomach let out a rather audible growl and he wrapped his arms around it, as though to smother the sound. He was going on day three of no food, unless munching on tree leaves counted. Water hadn't been too much of an issue at least, he could just freeze some of the moisture in the air into little icicles that he sucked on but food... that was a struggle.

Noticing Yuzu's pack that had ended up off to the side of the road, he went over to fetch it for the man, resisting the urge to go through it himself he offered it to Yuzu. "You wouldn't happen to have something to eat in there, would you?" he asked as those large blue eyes of his looked to Yuzu with such desperate hope.

 

[CJWrites]

Yuuri nodded. "A little. I was planning to get to the next town tonight so I don't have as much."

He rummaged in his pack, carefully angling the opening towards him as not to show Victor his royal robes. He pulled out half a loaf of bread.

"We can eat this." He said cheerfully, splitting the bread in half. "It should be enough for tonight. We'll deffinitely get to the town tomorrow" He looked at Vichan's wimpering face. "Hold on, how long has it been since you've eaten?"

 

[silenttiger43]

Victor was eyeing the bread with an eagerness he had never associated with such a humble meal before. "I... uh... it has been awhile" Victor replied, his bright eyes lighting up as he snatched the food from Yuzu's hand the moment it was offered. Victor practically wolfed down his half, nearly choking in the process but it was worth it. So worth it for a taste of real food. "VKUSNO!" he declared with glee and fell back onto the ground with a sigh, although his gaze now strayed towards Yuzu's portion.

His mouth was watering at the sight of more of the most delicious bread he had ever tasted in his life and he swore he would never take bread for granted again. He'd have it with every meal from now on. Swallowing, Victor pried his eyes away. Yuzo had been more than generous in sharing what he'd had already, Victor was not going to be greedy in asking for more. Apparently his stomach was less polite as it growled again, having gotten a taste for food it was like he'd woken the beast of hunger only more.

 

[CJWrites]

Yuuri had barely swallowed his first bite before Vichan wolfed down his entire meal. Chewing slowly, he looked down at his bread.

He gave Vichan a sympathetic look as the other man's stomach growled.

"Here." He handed Vichan the rest of his loaf. "I had lunch today. You did all that work gathering up the firewood and you'll probably do the bulk of the work tomorrow." He grimaced, massaging his ankle and feeling utterly useless.

"We should tuck in soon, preserve our energy." He said.

 

[silenttiger43]

Victor's eyes widened as he looked to Yuzu. Such kindness, such pure holy goodness and from an orient no less. "Are you sure?" he asked, sitting up again and tentatively accepting the bread. So soft-well okay, slightly stale from travelling, but so gooooood. He looked at the loaf and broke it apart in half again, insisting that Yuzu keep at least some of it. "I cannot eat it all. This is your food, please. You should eat at least some of it" and he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

Victor broke off a bite sized piece of the bread and brought it to Yuzu'a lips, "eat" he insisted

 

[CJWrites]

Yuuri hesitated before he opened his mouth, allowing Vichan to plop it into his mouth. He chewed and he had to admit he was a hungry. Wordlessly he took the rest of the bread offered to him.

By now he would have completely forgotten the man's nationality if it weren't for that accent.

His cousin might be under the impression that all Ruthanians were savage warmongers but Yuuri knew better. He had visited numerous counties and in each one, the people were just as diverse as in the Orient. The actions of a ruler shouldn't reflect on its citizens. Canadians were some of the most humble people he knew but you wouldn't know it from Jean Jacques Leroy.

Yuuri curled up next to the fire, feeling the blazing warmth on his face. His stomach twisted. Deep down he hoped hope that Vichan would curl up beside him.

 

[silenttiger43]

How adorable. Victor literally had Yuzu eating from his hand and it was the cutest thing Victor had ever witnessed. He could have died happy just then and the giddy smile on his face proudly pronounced as much to the world.

Victor ate this second portion of bread much slower, forcing himself to take his time with each bite even though he desperately just wanted to wolf it down again. With the starving monster in his belly at least partially quelled, Victor sighed and leaned back, gazing up at the sky. It was a bit overcast so he couldn't really see the stars but the nearly full moon was brightly shining through the clouds. It would probably fill out completely in another night or two.

Looking over to Yuzu, it was clear the adorable train was only continuing over there. The man looked so small and cuddly that Victor would have given anything to be invited in for a snuggle but the last thing he wanted to do was impose himself on the great bread-giver. The king was well aware of how clingy he could come across at times, he'd been told as much on more than one occasion in his youth and subsequently had driven away enough romantic interests with his overwhelming personality to learn that he needed to back off. He'd had his heart broken far too many times to allow himself to spiral out of control so easily-and with an Oriental no less, that could only lead to disaster.

And yet, he was almost certain that Yuzu wasn't human because no mere mortal could look so perfectly peaceful, curled up in Victor's cloak like it had made for this man instead of the King of Ruthenia. Victor allowed himself to come close enough so that he could tuck the ends of the cloak around Yuzu's feet in hopes it would help keep him warm through the night. After that, the king kept his distance, as heart wrenching as it was to do so. He lay a little further from the fire, on his back as he gazed up at the sky, waiting for his eyes to grow heavy and bring sleep.

 

[CJWrites]

Yuuri waited, still facing the flames, and tried to suppress his growing disappointment in Vichan. He closed his eyes, trying to think of something else. What would he say to convey his cousin's wishes? What would the ruler of Ruthenia be like? Even as he worried, he felt his mind drift and soon he was asleep.

---

Yuuri awoke to the sound of chirping birds and he blinked the sunlight out of his eyes. He sat up, the cloak falling off his shoulders. Oh right, he was still wearing it.

He lifted it before his eyes, seeing the navy fabric coated in dirt and the previously glimmering beads seemed dulled with scratches from the sand. Some of them looked like they were close to falling off. He started patting the dirt off, rising to his feet in order to get a better angle, before getting a painful reminder of the injury he had sustained yesterday.

He swore under his breath, hoping he didn't wake his companion if he was still asleep.

 

[silenttiger43]

Victor was nowhere to be seen. The spot he had been laying down was completely empty, the fire had petered out in the middle of the night and there was nothing but the natural sounds of the forest surrounding Yuuri, giving the impression that he was utterly abandoned.

In truth, Victor had woken with the sun, he loved early mornings. They felt so fresh and cool and filled his lungs with a desire to live. And eat. His stomach was growling once more and he had ventured into the forest a little ways to see if there was anything worth eating while Yuzu slept. After all, the King simply did not have the heart to wake such a perfect sleeping angel, lest he be sent straight to hell for such an affront to the gods.

Now, he was fairly certain he had been careful not to stray too far from the path, but then there had been this bush with bright red berries on it and after wandering around collecting a fair few of them he looked up to find himself lost. Again. Which direction had he come in from? Every angle of the forest looked the same and a panic began to rise in Victor's chest.

"YUZU?!" Victor called out, desperately hoping that he hadn't gone too far for their voices not to reach one another.

 

[CJWrites]

Yuuri glanced around, noting the smoke rising from the fire which had burned through its fuel. But... Where did Vichan go? Did he leave Yuuri in the middle of the night? Maybe Yuuri misread the signs and Vichan wanted him to starve to a slow and painful death.

"YUZU!" A shout rang through the forest. It was a while before Yuuri registered it as the name he'd given to Vichan.

"Vichan!" He yelled back. "Where are you!"

 

[silenttiger43]

Oh thank the gods. Thank the sweet gods in heaven for sending their angel Yuzu to save him. Victor let out a sigh of relief when he heard the voice and immediately headed towards the sound. It wasn't long before he stumbled back out onto the path and shook some of the leaves from his waterfall of tangled hair. "Oh good. I thought I'd gotten lost again" he smiled to the side at Yuzu, "I found berries!" he declared proudly and showed the little collection to his angel savior.

The berries were actually a well known bitter fruit that caused hallucinations and, in extreme cases, death.

 

[CJWrites]

Vichan really wasn't all that different from Vi-chan, Yuuri thought, the man promptly fetched sticks and for him. He could just imagine Vichan as a dog wagging his tail and proud to drop the berries in front of him and waiting for praise.

Yuuri looked at the berries and didn't recognize him. "Did you eat some?" He asked cautiously. "You know... these could be poisonous. The rule is never eat something unless you definitely know what it is." Yuuri wasn't the best survivalist either. He always brought enough food and rarely traveled alone. He had no clue what the berries were.

He reached out his hand to Vichan, an implicit request to help him up.

"We should go. If we want to make it to the town for lunch."

 

[silenttiger43]

Victor's smile faltered as he looked down at the berries and his shoulders fell with disappointment. "Oh... No, I didn't eat any" a rather sensual pout crossed his lips, "I was saving them all to share" he sighed and cast the berries aside with a look of longing. He had been so excited to have something more to eat.

Wiping off his hands on his pants, Victor took Yuuri's hand to help him up carefully and then he turned around to offer the man to hop onto his back. "You say it is only a few hours away?" he recalled from the night before. "I managed to last three days, I suppose a few more hours until my next meal will not kill me" he smiled again.

 

[CJWrites]

Yuuri blinked. Three days... well, a third loaf of bread wasn't nearly enough.

"Are you sure you can carry me?" Yuuri asked. Victor seemed overly eager to help but he had a thin, almost fragile frame.

"I could just... you know.. maybe if you supported my right side..." Yuuri's voice trailed off.

Whichever one ended up happening, the two men slowly made it to the village, with Victor carrying Yuuri and his pack. They talked and laughed along the way and Yuuri felt a bond forging between the two travelers. His heart sunk as he realized that soon, he might never see him again after they reached their goal.

"We should see if there's a healer in town," Yuuri muttered as they arrived. He hoped the people here were friendly. This village was dangerously close to Ruthenia, they might refuse to heal him on principle, maybe his companion could help convince them.

 

[silenttiger43]

Victor carried Yuuri on his back, they had to stop a few times for the man to catch his breath but they did make it there for around noon. Victor let out a sigh of relief at the sight of the town and charged forward with a laugh, excited already for all of the food he was going to eat. But, first, "Ah, a healer, yes!" declared the King, looking around, "Hmmm... how does one summon a healer around here?" he had to wonder quietly. Normally if he needed one he just asked whoever was nearest by and then a healer would appear soon after.

It was the odd strange comment like this that made it more and more apparent towards the fact that Victor did not know how to deal with these day to day things himself. Clearly he was a very well off noble and while he had avoided general questions on how he'd gotten lost in the forest and where exactly he was from, it was becoming more obvious that he was accustom to being waited on.

Stepping further into the town, Victor looked around, ignoring the number of people who stopped to stare at the odd pair. A filthy Ruthenian noble carrying an injured Oriental man was not something the Swiss saw everyday. "Excuse me" Victor turned to the nearest civilian with a wide smile, "Where might we find a healer?"

The woman just stared for a moment and then silently pointed down the street where there was a shop that displayed the sign of a healer out front, clear as day.

"oh? Oh!" Victor beamed and headed over. He finally was able to set Yuuri down into one of the healer's beds and after some conversation with the swiss man, was able to convince him to look after Yuuri's leg. Unexpectedly, Victor hung around to make sure Yuuri would be alright.

 

[CJWrites]

Yuuri stared at Victor. How did this man even survive this long? He could understand not knowing his way around the woods but not even knowing how to get a healer?

Yuuri sat on the bed as the healer examined his foot.

"What's your name, dear?" The healer asked, now a bright green glow in her hand. His ankle relaxed and it instantly felt better, but he could tell it wasn't healing yet.

"Yuzu." He said. "I... I tripped and fell. I would have died if Vichan didn't find me."

His face blushed scarlet. It was really embarrassing.

The healer tutted. "Looks like you put some strain on this... it's not a clean break and has healed badly. But I suppose it couldn't be much better. Coming out of the woods. You'll need to stay a few days while I heal it slowly."

He looked him up and down noting his matted, yet fine clothes. "I assume you have Swiss franks? It'll be a hundred per night." A hundred franks was a lot. Yuuri kind of understood though. he looked around at the people in the other beds. Some of them looked like they couldn't afford a meal at a tavern, much less a session from a healer.

"Sure," Yuuri said. He rummaged in his pack.