Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

~Below is the original scene I started in place of the more muted fight I ended up going with.

“Skull, and Fox, when I give the signal, make as much noise as you can.”
The two teens nod.
“Panther, open the app. Be ready.”
She nods.
“Mona, attack on my signal, and then run.”
With that, he summons Fidelia.
Then hoping the rules are much the same as they were in the metaverse, he borrows Arsène wings. He never tried to fly before, but it stood to reason the wings would work from him, just as they did for his other self.
Be it through cognition or pure luck, he gets aloft, and lands atop a building, now he is in the perfect position to coordinate their movements.

~Originally I imagined coordinating a group attack, with hand signals, and split second timing, that would culminate with him leaping down and snatching Makoto from danger, and them taking out the four men. An all out attack if you will.

I ended up going with a more muted scene because I had the idea shown in Chapter 233, but I hate to delete anything just in case I can use it later, but I doubt that will happen with this peice.

Chapter Text

~This is the original text that 238 started from before it took on a life of it's own and became a longer version. A few details changed from the outline to the final product and hopefully someone finds that interesting. 

~When I had written the introduction to the play, I began to think about what the story would be for the play because my brain just spirals on tangents sometimes. I had only outlined it until the Princes were on deaths door, and was talking to a friend who wanted a happy ending which is why this ends happily.

 ~ Also in the initial draft the 2nd Prince was a Little and the 1st Prince a Caregiver that was taken out.

The Boy in the Mask

A little town, almost unphased by the passing of time, where magic and ingenuity run parallel, and prosperity reigned amongst the people. 

In the castle where dwells the benevolent king and queen there existed a secret. The people knew only of one prince, the eldest of twins born that day, for the other had been born without an ounce of magical energy, and thus  was stripped of his birthright.

Between the two princes there lay a secret. Every seventh day, at the darkest hour they would spend time together, and in the last hour before the moon surrendered they switched places. In the moment of freedom, the second, secret Prince got to dance. This joy was the only thing that was his alone and he embraced it fully in those fleeting moments.

As time passed the Prince had less and less free time, and the nights of freedom dwindled to once a month.

In his 10th year they are separated, and the illness hits. He tries to hid it, but they learn. He does not reveal this truth to his brother.

In the Prince’s 16 th year he is sent upon his first quest beyond the kingdom’s grounds and thus all freedom is stolen. On the night before his departure the Prince gives his brother a jewel telling him that it would grant him any one wish.

Removed from the only to show him kindness, the prince begins to sicken, and as death calls he makes his wish. 

“My brother, the only kindness in this world, deserves more than anything that it can offer him. With the last of my life, I wish that should he need help, that it comes to him.”

With that the second Prince dies.

In that moment, grief hits the Prince, fuelled by pain and magic, and the knowledge that this journey was intentionally to separate them the Prince falls into a coma.

As they struggle to get him awake once more the wiseman of their kingdom tells them, Two souls born and torn, only shall the two meet once more, will the two be restored.

So it is revealed that the wish stone really did work, but it wasn’t the way they thought. The two actually made the same wish, and thus several things were put into motion.

Seeing how their wrongs have taken away their children they realize that in creating such a rift they are the responsible parties, and ages ago when it was foretold that the birth of twin princes would bring the downfall of the kingdom, this was what it meant, and the one to interpret the prophecy, the one to suggest hiding the prince away in a magically sealed tower, they had planned all this from the start, and had the plan played out the way it was supposed to, both princes would have died.

However with the magical stone, and the bond the princes formed of their own volition yet one hope remained.

The grief-stricken parents bring the comatose prince to the site of the seal. Within it lies the last remnants of his twin.

Inside the mind of the Prince is a new land, a land where he and his twin had grown together, celebrated, and loved. This world is his desired one, and the nagging feeling of it being wrong is easy to ignore.

As the days turn to months, the Prince lay on his deathbed as his magic fades, harming the kingdom’s magic as it does for the kingdom and the royal line is entwined by  the very magic that ran in their blood.

With no other recourse, the queen attempts the ultimate sacrifice, only to be stopped by a revelation from magic itself.  

If they were to wake the Prince there was but one course of action. They would have to tell their people the truth,  and the part they played in the kingdom’s decline. If they could do so, and have the people offer a fraction of their magic, if there was enough that cared to support them then the Prince would be saved. If not, the kingdom would fall by year’s end.

The king goes about his lands, asking the people’s aid as he tells the tragic tale of the brothers and his part in it.

The end of the year draws close, the Prince’s birthday destined to be the day of his death, and that night across the territories the people offer their prayers.

Not for the king, but for the Prince that had been so kind to them, and his brother that through no fault of his own, was hidden and faded in secrecy.

However it is not enough the magic informs them. The Prince will live, but the fantasy bestows the one that he lost, and with no one remembering that child there is no way to restore him.

But a servant of the castle comes forth, recalling the nights  the Prince used to dance in the moonlight, and realize that it was the younger who’s movements formed such a mournful dance.  

With that magic comes together and the stone shatters leaving both princes side by side, hand in hand,  in the chamber.

As the new day of the new year dawns, both boys awaken, and the truth comes to be known.  On that faithful night, they simply could not sense the boy’s magic for his was the magic used by his brother. With him gone, the magic flowed out of control too much for one to handle. Magic itself was that which led the princes to meet for the first time, and thus the true savior.

It takes many years for the princes to forgive but it does happen, and once they reach age 21 they take the throne after their father abdicates. 

Together they rule fair and just, both finding love. The eldest with the lady knight that had traveled with him, and kept him safe when his magic went wild. And the second with the very servant that had fallen in love with his dance.