Midnight.
Heavy rain.
The world was swallowed by darkness, save for the city lights and the flash of distant lightning that illuminated the massive periter walls of the king’s royal palace.
Beyond the back of the palace walls, where the manicured gardens dissolved into dense, unkept woodland, two dark hooded figures moved like ghosts.
They ran in a low crouch along the edge of the foliage, ticulously staying perfectly within the shadows cast by the trees to avoid the powerful magical spotlights beaming down from the walls and watch towers.
Suddenly, the front figure’s hand shot out, stopping the one behind from moving any further.
"Austin, stop," Gary hissed, his voice cutting through the thundering roar of the rain. "There’s a patrol guard directly on top of the wall. He’s looking our way."
Austin wrapped his fingers around the edge of his own hood and peered through the sheet of rain with an irritated scowl.
"Who cares?" he muttered back. "We’re dressed in full dark hoods, under the cover of night, and it is raining hard as fuck. He probably can’t see shit. Let’s just go."
"This is the king’s palace, you idiot. We only get one shot at this. If the alarms are raised, the royal guards will lock down the entire periter within seconds. It is best to be careful."
Austin let out a dramatic groan as he rolled his eyes beneath the shadow of his hood. "Whatever, mom. Fine."
"Heh, mom."
They crouched in the mud, breathing silently as the guard on the wall paced back and forth. The mont he looked away, Gary gave the go ahead. "Alright. Let’s move quickly."
They burst from the foliage and ran along the slippery mud, pushing through the stinging rain until they had traveled far enough down the periter wall, deep into a forgotten, overgrown corner of the palace.
"I think this is it," Austin whispered when looking around.
He stepped toward a particularly massive bush. With a grunt, he shoved his hands into the thick leaves and yanked the shrubbery aside.
Revealed beneath was a concealed iron trap door, half-buried under wet earth and dead leaves.
A secret passageway.
Gary stepped up beside him and stared down at the hidden latch in genuine surprise. "This is the secret path the Dorothy twins use to sneak out of the palace?"
"Yeah, this is definitely it," Austin grinned knowingly.
"I rember this area perfectly. I can almost see the CG image from the ga of when it was revealed for the first ti–" He caught himself, quickly clearing his throat before Gary could question his weird wording again.
"Alright, Garthy, this is as far as I can go. I’ll wait for you right here. Do you rember the plan?"
"Haaa... It’s Gary. And yeah. Don’t worry. I’ll kill Brother Jules before he can say a word to the interrogators about you fiddling with the divine gem. Which he shouldn’t have, given that you’re a part of our Brotherhood. We don’t sell out our own."
"... You’re literally about to go assassinate him for . You’re not exactly proving your point here."
Gary paused. Then, slowly, a soft smile graced his lips. "That’s because you’re much more important to than my allegiance to the Brotherhood, Austin. You always will be."
The sincerity in Gary’s smile caught Austin completely off guard.
A sudden jolt ran through his spine, and his face instantly flushed from embarrassnt. He nervously cleared his throat, pulling his hood down harder to hide his burning cheeks.
"S-Stop doing that! Stop smiling like that! And for the millionth ti, I’m not gay!"
Gary’s smile only grew more affectionate. He stepped closer and closed the distance between them. Austin flinched, instinctively taking an inch back as his heart hamred.
Leaning in, Gary’s face ca tantalizingly close to Austin’s, making the boy squeeze his eyes shut in panic.
But at the last second, Gary veered slightly, pressing his lips right beside Austin’s ear.
" too," he whispered softly.
Before Austin could process the words, Gary unlatched the iron trap door and jumped down into the pitch-black darkness below, pulling the door shut behind him without making a sound.
Left completely alone in the pouring rain, Austin stood frozen for a few seconds.
Suddenly, he brought his fist down and forcefully punched his own chest.
Thud!
"Stop beating!" he hissed at his own heart with a red face.
Thud! Thud!
"Stop fucking beating so fast!"
Then, unconsciously, his trembling hand rose up and his fingers wrapped tightly around his own throat as the image of Gary’s smile flashed vividly in his mind.
He felt overwhelmingly embarrassed as panic swirled in his brain. Not knowing what the hell he was doing, or how else to snap himself out of the emotional overload, he suddenly drove his head forward and bashed it violently against the stone wall of the periter.
Crack!
He bounced back, only to slam his forehead against the muddy ground multiple tis. A massive, deep cut split across his brow, and a thick pool of blood poured down his face, mixing with the rain.
But within a fraction of a second, a ripple of divine mana flared, and the flesh stitched itself back together, healing almost instantly.
"Haa..*huff*.. *puff*... what the hell’s wrong with ..."
......
Deep within the underground belly of the palace, the iron trap door creaked open.
Gary peeked his head to scan his surroundings. He found himself in a dimly lit horse shed located in the lower courtyard of the inner palace.
Ensuring no stable hands or guards were nearby, Gary slipped out of the hatch and pulled a crumpled piece of parchnt from his cloak. Unfolding it, he stared down at the incredibly crude and horribly misshapen lines drawn across the page.
It was a map Austin had drawn for him.
"What an ugly drawing," Gary chuckled to himself.
Despite the awful artistic skills of his friend, he morised the layout within seconds, shoved the parchnt back into his cloak, and lted into the darkness.
Sneaking in and through the palace corridors was an exercise in absolute perfection.
Gary didn’t just sneak; he beca part of the castle’s architecture. More specifically, it’s shadows.
Whenever a patrol of heavily armored royal guards marched down the hallways, he would smoothly step forward and dissolve his body into the guards’ moving shadows. He traveled with them, perfectly synchronised to their movents.
While riding inside the shadows, Gary kept his ears sharp.
"... The tournant tomorrow is going to be a madhouse," one guard whispered to another as they walked down a grand corridor.
"... The Prince and Princess have been rigorously ever since their public humiliation. I guess a good spanking was just the right motivation they needed, huh?"
"... Yeesh. Keep those types of comnts to yourself."
Gary waited until they passed a deep alcove, smoothly sliding out of the royal guardsman’s shadow and into the darkness of a curtain.
He navigated the upper levels with fluid grace, dropping down from balconies and avoiding sophisticated magical tripwires with the ease of a master thief.
A few minutes later, he slipped into the shadow of a pair of elite sentries guarding the throne room.
"... By the way, have you heard the rumors from the high courts?" one sentry muttered, leaning against his halberd. "They say the First Princess might be back by tomorrow morning. She’s cutting her diplomatic tour short just to watch the tournant."
"... Oh no... If she’s back, security is going to double. She’s way too unpredictable." the other grumbled.
Gary didn’t care about the royal family’s schedule.
The mont the guards shifted their stance, he glided past them, slipping down the dark, twisting stone spiral staircase that led deep into the earth. The luxurious carpets and golden candelabras of the palace faded away, replaced by damp, freezing stone walls and the oppressive scent of stagnant water and old blood.
The underground dungeon.
Keeping his hood low, he walked down the central corridor of the high-security block. Every single cell here was lined with massive, glowing blue anti-mana crystals embedded into the iron bars, completely draining the prisoners of their internal mana.
As he walked past the cells containing high-profile political assassins, rogue mages, and disgraced nobles, his eyes remained locked on the naplates bolted to the stone walls.
Finally, at the very end of the deepest block, he found his target. On the wall next to the reinforced iron gate, a plaque read: Prisoner 842 - Cultist: Jules.
Inside the dark, damp cell, Jules was curled up fast asleep on a thin straw mat.
"Hey. Psst. Brother Jules. Wake up."
The cultist pushed himself up from the straw and clicked his tongue in irritation as he glared through the darkness at the cloaked figure, assuming it was yet another late-night interrogation squad.
"I already told you dogs; I don’t know where the divine gem is. Now leave in peace, you heret–"
"Quiet down," Gary whispered sharply, pulling his hood back just enough for the dim torchlight to catch his face. "It’s not a guard. It’s . Brother Gary."
"B-Brother Gary! Oh, Goddess above, you haven’t abandoned ! Are you... are you here to break out perchance?!"
"Be. Quiet," he commanded coldly.
Jules instantly shut his mouth, nodding frantically. Gary leaned closer to the anti-mana bars. "I can get you out. But I need to ask you one very important question first."
"Anything, Brother. Anything."
"During your interrogation... Did you say anything about Brother Austin?" Gary asked, his eyes narrowing into slits.
The cultist leader looked offended by the re suggestion.
"What? Never–! I an... Never." Jules softened his voice.
"I would never betray one of our own, Brother Gary." He let out a bitter, self-deprecating sigh, shaking his head.
"You see... upon further reflection over the past few hours... I realise I misjudged the boy. Austin must have known that everything was going to go to ruin the mont he realised the Izumi heiress had shown up. That’s why he tried taking the divine gem for safekeeping...
"I admit... in a blind fit of rage, I thought he was trying to ruin my work, and I tried to kill him. But the Izumi girl had already frozen before I could strike. I acted foolishly."
He looked back up at Gary, his eyes full of hope. "I haven’t spoken a single word about Brother Austin to the guards. I swear it. I would like to apologise to him personally once I am free."
Gary stared at him through the bars. A cold, chilling stillness settled over his features. "Good. I’m glad to hear that." He offered the cultist a faint, reassuring nod.
"Co a little closer to the gate. I need to give you sothing."
"Of course, Brother," Jules quickly stepped forward. "What is it–"
Flick.
Gary’s hand snapped forward from beneath his cloak. A jagged black dagger, its edge dripping with a glowing lethal venom, flashed through the dark.
Squelch!
The blade drove directly into Jule’s throat, burying itself up to the hilt.
His wide eyes instantly dilated into horrified confusion. He tried to scream, tried to ask why, but the venom instantly paralyzed his vocal cords.
He could only stare in pure terror into Gary’s face. Underneath the dark hood, Gary’s expression was completely emotionless, devoid of a single shred of remorse or brotherhood.
Gushhh!
Gary ruthlessly pulled the dagger out.
Jules clutched his bleeding throat while stumbling backward into the center of his cell. He collapsed onto the cold stone floor, his body twitching violently for a brief three seconds before he went completely still, dying without making a single sound.
Wiping the blade on the edge of his cloak, a dark, victorious smirk slowly creeping onto Gary’s face. He turned back and lted back into the shadows of the dungeon corridor.
........
- One hour later -
The rain was still coming down heavily.
Austin paced back and forth along the edge of the foliage; his hands shoved deep into his pockets as he grew increasingly restless.
’What the hell is taking him so long? Did he get caught? If the royal guards find him, I’m screwed...’
Creeaak
"AH!" Austin shrieked, jumping a full foot into the air.
"Holy shit! You scared the holy ghost out of ! I thought you were one of the Dorothy twins coming back to sneak out! So, how did it go?"
Gary pulled his hood back. His face was perfectly calm, completely unaffected by the brutal assassination he just committed.
"Heh, it went flawlessly. That shitty map you gave was actually surprisingly accurate. I managed to locate and eliminate Brother Jules without raising a single alarm."
"And the interrogation? Did he say anything about taking the divine gem?"
"He didn’t spill a single bean about you. Looks like he misunderstood your intentions. Your secret is perfectly safe, Austin."
An overwhelming wave of ecstatic joy washed over Austin. And without even thinking, he lunged forward and threw his arms around Gary, hugging him tightly.
"Fuck yeah, thank you! Thank you so much, Gary! You’re a fucking lifesaver!"
Gary froze entirely.
His breath caught in his throat as his face exploded into a blush.
Slowly, he hovered his hands just centiters away from Austin’s back, desperately wanting to wrap his arms around the boy and hold him forever.
But was cut off.
"Alright! Mission accomplished! C’mon. Let’s get the hell outta here."
Austin began to jog back along the foliage line, completely leaving Gary standing in the mud.
Gary’s hands slowly dropped back to his sides as a wave of disappointnt washed over his face. He stared at Austin’s retreating back through the pouring rain when a soft, bittersweet sigh escaped his lips.
"Anything for you... my Austin," he whispered to the empty night before pulling his hood up and quickly following the boy into the darkness.
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