#magicborn au

Once upon a time there were two kingdoms. With two princes who were very close. They were both savants in the way of magic, brilliant minds and talents who enjoyed nothing more than to expirament with the magical order.

Their names were Thomas Light, and Albert Wily.

One day the princes met up and agreed to perform the ultimate magic expirament. An action thought impossible, to create life from magic.

After days upon months and even years in pursuit of life from magic, they succeeded. The first Magicborn. They named him Blues.

Albert told Light to keep the child as his future heir, knowing his friend was unlikely to seek a consort for himself. The two continued their experiments even after the birth of Blues, but upon presenting the babe to the world, all eyes were on Thomas and Albert now. And as time went on, Thomas gained accolades and praise for his advancements and raising of Blues, while Albert... Albert had gone down a more dangerous path, focusing on the raw power the Magicborn could be capable of, and received criticism, and ire.

Albert grew jealous of Thomas, and a rift opened between them, growing larger and deeper as time went on, a rift that Thomas, now King Light, was unaware of.

Until he realized there was something wrong with Blues. His magical core was unstable, just to keep himself alive his body siphoned the mana around him. Grass withered at his feet, flowers died at his touch, his very presence had been aging Light. King Light took him to Albert immediately, now King Wily. Wily agreed to find a solution with Light, coming up with a barrier spell that would cycle and recycle the magic through Blue's core, but that could hold potentially catastrophic results should Blues be struck in the heart. So Light decided to keep searching lest they grow complacent in such a dangerous, even if temporary, solution. But Wily... Wily lied to Blues, planted fear in his heart that Light had deemed him a failure and was planning to unmake him and Blues allowed Wily to cast the barrier.

Blues ran away. Light was left in despair, at the loss of his son and Wily's betrayal.

He waited, he waited for ten long years for Blues to return, but he never did. King Light didn't want to give up hope though, and so he resolved that when Blues returned, he would return to a welcoming family; he experimented with creating more stable magicborn making them more constructs to aid the people of his land till he realized creating them on his own was sapping his life. And so he reached out to a spirit of the wind, asking to borrow their power to create. The spirit found his desire amusing and agreed and twins were born of their mana.

King Light named them Rock and Roll.

But Wily was not resting upon his laurels. Upon hearing of Rock and Roll's birth he grew furious, hearing the praise the children received, how blessed they appeared. He took a bride, a powerful witch, whether or not they liked each other, only they know. Through their union they created their own magicborn child, a strong child, and named him... Well they disagreed upon his name, so the babe was given two. His father called him Bass, his mother called him Forte and they decided he could decide which he liked better. Wily insisted that Bass was the better name.

Rock and Roll grew up beloved by all, their father, construct siblings and the people of Light's kingdom.

Bass knew of love from only his mother and his beast, Trebel. His people were wary and feared him, his father only seemed to have expectations that he be the strongest.

Rock and Bass would clash many times over the years. And after each clash Bass would return defeated to the ire of King Wily.

Blues' return to Light's side, only to abdicate his throne to Rock was the last straw.

One day, when the summer sun blazed hot in the sky, threatening to scorch the very earth, Wily and his queen sealed themselves in the tower closest to the firmament. Whatever happened in that tower, the light that poured from it nearly blinded all who witnessed it and when it was done and the door was opened, Bass' mother was dead, Wily had aged and in his arms was a wailing magicborn baby boy.

He was named Zero. For he was to have no equal.

When King Light heard of the child, the magicborn so powerful that he took the life of King Wily's consort, years of Wily's own life and rumored to have taken mana from the sun itself when he was born, he became afraid. For his sons, his daughter, his kingdom. The power this child was said to bear, the threat he posed if he stood unopposed. And so, on a cool autumn evening, with only the moon and Blues as witness, King Light called his favorite student, a nobleman named Cain and his magicborn son Sigma, to stay with Rock and Roll, and silently ventured deep into the forest, to a quiet lake that perfectly reflected the Moon's light.

Blues will not say what transpired that night. But he returned alone save for babe in his arms. King Light's final decree was the babe's name, X. For within him was unlimited potential.

Rock was too young and Blues was too unwilling to take the throne, and so Lord Cain took the mantel of Regent till Rock felt he was ready to rule.

The kingdom mourned the loss of their King and celebrated their new prince. But the celebration did not last long, Wily saw an opportunity, and launched an attack, sending the two kingdoms spiraling into all out war, gone were the skirmishes Rock could fight on his own.

As Blues led the army with Rock and Sigma at his side, Cain resolved the best way to keep X safe was to keep him as far from the battlefield as possible, learning the blade in self defense. But X would end up favoring the bow.

The years passed and the fighting died down with Wily growing more reclusive, Zero was raised in strife. Bass' ire ensured he had no brother to lean on, and Trebel rejected him on Bass' command, but he was able to simply leave the castle should he desire the company of others, or visit a neighboring allied Kingdom founded and governed entirely by magicborn. Meanwhile X was raised in compassion, but isolated. All he has for friends were his family, Lord Cain, their pets and the servants.

For his 18th birthday, all X wanted was to go out to town, meet and walk amongst his people, but instead he got an extravagant ball.

It is there that X and Zero met.

"I'm bored."

"Then go bother the guards, twerp."

Zero made a face at his older brother. He didn't want to bug the guards, he wanted to play with his jerkhole of a big brother. Bass was reclining against Trebel's side reading some book. Zero let out a dramatic sigh and flopped onto Trebel, only to back off quickly with the beast's snarl, and then after letting out a bigger, even more dramatic, sigh he flopped onto Bass' legs, grasping the book from below.

"Let go pipsqueak." Bass growled, but he didn't fight Zero's grip too hard.

"Play with meeeeeeee!" Zero whined.

Bass managed to ignore Zero for all of a minute before he finally had enough with Wily's creation hemming and hawing on him. Finally he drew one of his legs back and, "Get. Off!" shoved the boy off of him, said boy crying out in protest. "Why don't you just go get lost!?"

Zero sat up with a huff, blowing a stray stand of hair out of his face. "Fine. I will!" He stood and brushed himself off.

"Good." Bass snorted. "Maybe you'll find worth out there."

Zero glared, lips pinched tight. "I hate you."

"Took you long enough."

Zero clenched his fists and yelled, "You'll be sorry if I get eaten by a bear!" And he turned and ran out of the room. Trebel lifted her head and looked at Bass.

"What? He'll be fine. Like I care anyways..." Bass glanced at where Zero had been standing.

---

"Will you play with me, Rock?"

"Sorry, X. I'm busy."

X pouted lightly, "No you're not... You're just reading."

Rock marked his page and closed the book with a chuckle. "It's an important book." He leaned over and lifted X onto his lap. "If you want, we can have quiet time together."

X shook his head, he didn't want quiet time. He wanted to play. "I'll go ask someone else... Thanks though." X left with head hung a bit low.

Rush looked up at Rock, then Rock's book, huffed and raised a judgmental canine brow.

"Don't look at me like that." Rock leaned back onto Rush with a guilty smile. "I'm allowed to have quiet time."

X wandered around the castle, trying to find someone, anyone, to play with. Blues was busy training with the knights, Roll was having a tea party with Lady Kalinka and was too busy to play as well. He peeked into the library, Sigma looked up from the shelf he was browsing and lit up. "X-"

X scurried off, it wasn't that he didn't like Sigma, but Sigma would take any request to play to put a sword in his hand and start making it about learning. Sigma wasn't fun.

Finally X poked his head into the main study, Fath- Lord Cain was sitting there, writing something down. X stepped into the room, gulping. The last time Fa- Lord Cain, played with him the older man had thrown his back out, but they didn't HAVE to play things like horse or dragons! They could play with toys! He knew that the elder liked and collected toys.

"Da-" X hesitated, "Lord Cain?"

Cain looked up from his writings, smiling. "Ah, X! What brings you here?"

X looked down at his feet, shuffling them. "Will you play with me?" He peeked up, his shoulders slumped low seeing Cain's expression.

"I'm sorry my boy. These documents won't sign themselves." He sighed.

"Okay..." X turned around slowly trudging away. He rubbed his nose as he walked down the grand hallways. No one wanted to play with him... Everyone was either busy or Sigma. X paused in front of the painting of his creator. "Do you wanna play with me?" He asked the painting in vain. Suddenly X was knocked over.

"Hey! What idiot stands- oh... You."

X shook his head, looking up, then his eyes lit up. It was Vile! Vile was mean, but he was only two years older than X, and he and X were the only kids in the castle. So... Maybe...?

"Will you play with me, Vile?"

Vile looked down at X, then threw his head back in laughter. "Play!? With you?!" He bent down. Vile always wore a helmet but X could just imagine the kind of face he was making, "awwe does the widdle pwinclings famiwy not want him awound?"

"My family wants me around!" X says quickly. "They're just... All busy..." X looked down. "At... The same time..."

"Yep," Vile huffed, turning around, "they're definitely sick of you!" He rubbed his nose under his helmet, "tell you what, princeling; I'll let you be my squire for today and you can play with...me..." When Vile turned around, X was gone. "Hey! Where'd you go?!... You'd better not tell!"

X laid face down on his bed, sniffling. No one wanted him around? He gripped his sheets and sat up, rubbing his eyes and nose on his sleeve. Well fine then. If they were sick of him, then he'd just... Just get out of their hair forever! He hopped off his bed and grabbed his rucksack, his favorite toy bow and some arrows, and... He paused, hesitating for a moment as he reached for a picture book, then he shook his head and grabbed it, shoving it into the sack. He then snuck down to the kitchens for some cheese and bread, ran out to the gardens, and struggled his way through the hedges and out into the forest.

---

"Take that! And that!" Zero stabbed at his opponent with his mighty blade, his foe's limbs scattering to the wind. He stabbed his weapon of choice into the ground and smirked at the now naked flower. He threw his head back with a warrior's laugh, "how does it feel to be bested by the greatest knight in all of Abel?"

The flower bent downwards.

"that's what I thought!" Zero grinned, plucking his sword from the ground and slinging it over his shoulder. He marched further into the woods, on the look-out for more foliage to best when he heard a rustling nearby. He brandished his sword in both hands and approached the shaking foliage. He squinted, edging ever closer, quietly shifting on his feet, closer. Closer...

"Yah!" He struck the brush with his blade, slapping off a few leaves and making someone scream and come tumbling out! Zero tilted his head. Laying on their back before him, was another little boy, somewhere around his age.

X looked up at the boy who'd frightened him out of the bush, and smiled. "I like your stick."

Zero made a face, holding his hand out to the other boy. "It's not a stick, it's a sword!" X took his hand and Zero hefted him up, taking his appearance in. The other boy was in a plain blue loose tunic, he looked quite common.

X shuffled his feet, "Oh... I like your sword then."

Zero beamed, "It's a pretty great sword, right? Wanna try it?"

X shook his head, pulling a little bow out of his rucksack, "I like shooting arrows better." He grabbed a little arrow with a suction cup at the end. "I'm really good at it too! Wanna see?"

Zero nodded.

X took aim at the furthest target he thought he could hit, a tree a couple yards away. He drew his drawstring back, pausing to line his shot, took a deep breath and released. The arrow zoomed through the air and plopped against the trunk, but it didn't stick, falling to the ground. X made a face.

"Well...if it was flatter it woulda stayed." He turned to Zero, the other boy clapped for him.

"that was great! Almost as good as the royal archers!" Zero said and X perked up.

"You think so?"

Zero nodded, "I know so! I've trained with them before!" He grinned smugly, gesturing to himself.

X looked at him like he was a celebrity. "Wow!"

"Uhm..." X put his bow back and wrung his hands together, "Do you... Wanna play with me?" He asked shyly.

Zero beamed at him, "Sure!"

And so the two boys played, they played as if they'd always known each other. They played various games of pretend, and chase, and hide and seek as they ventured further into the forest together. They played and played as the sun rose higher in the sky until they'd played their little hearts out. They laid in the grass giggling and smiling. When X heard his own tummy rumble and looked to see Zero rubbing his, he sat up and dug into his sack, pulling out the small block of cheese and slice of bread he'd taken. X broke the cheese and the bread in half and gave the larger portion to Zero.

"Oh! Thanks!" Zero sat up quickly and they ate their little lunch. "Why're you out here anyways?" The woods were a long way from the village after all.

X paused his eating, his hands falling into his lap. "I'm running away..."

"What?!" Zero looked at the other boy like he'd heard wrong, "why would you do that?!"

"Because everyone's sick of me!" X rubbed his eyes as tears formed, "no one wanted to play with me and they all said they were busy, but it was just cuz they didn't want me around!"

Zero scoot closer to his playmate, placing a hand on his back. That didn't sound quite right, he may not know this kid's family, but he knew what it was like to be unwanted by family. "I don't think that's true."

X sniffled and looked up at him with reddened eyes. "Huh?"

"Were they mean when they said they were busy?"

X shook his head.

"Then they were probably all just busy."

"All at the same time?" X tilted his head, rubbing his face.

Zero sighed, moving X's arms away so he could gently wipe his cheeks, "Yeah. It happens sometimes. Sometimes all of my friends are busy at the same time, doesn't mean they hate me. Just means I gotta play on my own."

"But doesn't that get lonely?" X asked.

"Sometimes." Zero shrugged, "But sometimes it's fun, I was playing on my own before I found you." He puffed his chest out, "I was the greatest warrior in all of Abel!"

X giggled, and Zero felt his stomach do a flip-flop.

"My big brother's the greatest warrior in Abel! So you gotta beat him if you wanna be!" X proclaimed.

Zero finished his cheese and bread and stood, waiting for X to finish his. "And someday I will!" Zero declared.

Once X was up the two of them marched further into the woods. The further along they got, the more foreboding everything felt. X walked closer and closer to Zero till he was gripping the back of the other boy's red tunic. Something felt... Wrong, about wherever they were headed. Zero slowed down as the two of them crossed... Some kind of border, where the bright green foliage gave way to dead gray. The entire forest around them turning withered. But this didn't feel normal. Zero knew of this, he'd learned recently. The withered grass and dead trees seemed like they were frozen in time, no decay, and all was gray. This place deep in the forest had been completely sapped of mana. He'd heard the local hunters speak of this place. They both felt like they should turn back, but their legs wouldn't obey them. Instead they kept venturing forward till they came to a clearing, just as mana sapped as the rest of the area. In the center of the clearing was the most pristine, beautiful lake they'd ever seen, perfectly reflecting whatever fell over the water's surface, it added to the eerieness of this place.

X felt... Like this place was special somehow, but... "I... think we should go back."

Zero nodded, but as he turned around to go back the way they came, they were met with the huffing pants of a beast, lumbering through the dead trees towards them, a great bear. Zero felt dread, the hunters spoke of the animals that lived here. How they could tell that an animal had been present when the area had been sapped. Plants withered and grayed when sapped of their mana, but living beings, if they weren't sapped of life alongside their mana and were incapable of recovering mana on their own, went mad and turned indiscriminately violent. Maverick, they were called.

The great bear glared at them through reddened, crazed eyes.

"Run!" Zero grabbed X's hand and turned and ran, X stumbling behind him. The bear roared and gave chase. Unfortunately for the two boys, a bear was faster than a child. The beast swiped at their feet, narrowly missing, but it caused X to trip, which in turn made Zero fall. Both boys looked up with wide eyes as the bear loomed over them. It raised its massive claws, Zero looked for something to throw, while X pulled his rucksack off and held it up in front of both of them as the bear's claws came down.

And everything went black.

---

Zero groaned, eyes fluttering, the world coming in and out. He gasped sitting up, looking around frantically. Where? How? He was in his room... The other boy!

"Ow!" Zero cried out as his hair was painfully gripped, his head pulled back. He was met with Bass' snarl.

"What the hell were you doing so far in the woods?! The hell were you doing on the Arcadia side of the border?!" Bass snarled, "Do you have any idea what that old bastard would do if something happened to you?!"

Zero stared up at him, bewildered. "Uh, there was another kid... He-"

"That brat's fine." Bass snorted, shoving Zero back, "and you're never seeing him again. Now go back to sleep, twerp."

Zero stared after Bass as he stormed out of his room. Bass gestured to Trebel and she stayed behind. She looked at Zero and stalked towards his bed, hopping up and on top of the boy, flopping on his legs. Zero stared, Trebel had never done this before, she was always glued to Bass' side. But Bass had said something to her and here she was, on Zero's bed. He hesitated then reached out to touch her fur. She glanced at him, but otherwise allowed Zero to pet her.

Zero made a face, relieved that other boy was okay, but why couldn't Zero see him again? And... Had Bass saved them? "..."

---

X sat up with a scream, looking around frantically for his new friend. He was in his room, he was... He was home.

"X! You're awake!" Suddenly arms engulfed X into an embrace. Rock squeezed him tightly, then pulled back holding his shoulders. "What were you- why did you leave the grounds?!"

X gripped his sheets and looked around, "Rock, there was-"

"The other boy is okay. Answer me, what on earth were you thinking?" Rock pet his hair, Rush flopped his head on X's bed.

X bit his lower lip. "I... Was running away..."

"What?!" Rock gasped in alarm, "why?!"

"...Cuz I thought you were all sick of me." X gripped his sheets harder, fidgeting with them. "You were all so busy and..."

Rock looked guilty, he'd just wanted to read but he'd neglected his little brother. "I'm sorry X... I-"

X shook his head, "I coulda played alone, it's not like you'd be busy forever," he reached down to pet Rush's head. "I'm sorry, Rock..."

"Actually... It was probably a good thing you ran off." Rock rubbed the back of his head.

X looked at him funny and Rock produced X's now ruined rucksack. "If you hadn't been there then I don't think that other boy would've left the forest. He pulled out the book X had taken with him and X cried out in despair.

"Oh no!" He reached for it, it was ruined. X sniffled, looking up at Rock, "I-I'm sorry I didn't take care of it Rock, I-"

"Hey! Hey! It's just a book-"

"No it's not!" X wailed, rubbing his eyes, "Your- Our Daddy gave it to you and you gave it to me and now-!"

Rock hugged him again, "X, this book saved yours and that other boy's life. If you hadn't brought it along-..." Rock squeezed tighter, not ever wanting to think about that. X squeezed him back, eyes shut tight.

"Rock?"

"Yeah?"

X looked up, "Do you know that boy's name?" He realized the entire time they'd played neither X nor the other boy ever introduced themselves. They'd just started playing. He was hopeful, if he learned the boy's name, maybe X could find him, and they could play again.

Rock shook his head to X's dismay, "It's probably for the better if you two don't meet again."

"Why not?!" X asked, distressed.

Before Rock could answer, the door to X's room burst open, Roll and Blues rushing in, both of them looking both incredibly worried and incredibly relieved.

"X!" Roll stole him from Rock, squeezing him tightly. "When we found out you were missing-! Do you have any idea how hard it was to keep it quiet from Lord Cain and Sigma while Rock went out to find you?! We were so worried!" She kissed all over his face. "Oh, you're alright! Thank the spirits you're alright!"

Blues pet X's hair, "Gave us a huge scare there, little brother. Try to keep that to a minimum, really don't think that old man's heart could handle it."

X looked around, surrounded by his big brothers and big sister.

"AH- X, there you are." Lord Cain hobbled in, "I've been looking all over for you, I've finished those pesky doctrines, do you still want to play?"

X sniffled. That sniffle turned into a sob. And then X began to bawl. He was so loved, he felt so foolish for ever believing Vile.

---

Earlier

Rock searched the forest frantically, Rush on the scent of X. How could he be such an idiot? Why didn't he just put the damn book down and play with his little brother?! He could have picked it back up after X went to bed!

Rush suddenly froze and let out a howl, taking off towards the north, Rock hurried to keep up. He hadn't even noticed when he'd crossed into the section of the forest sapped of mana, freezing at the edge of the clearing in horror. A great bear loomed over two little bodies on the ground, drooling and huffing, raising onto its hind legs- one of those little bodies had a familiar fluff of brown hair.

"X!" Rock cried out, charging the beast with Rush, unsheathing his sword. He swiped his hand across the blade, tempering it with magic before striking the bear, sinking his sword into its flank as far as it could go, the bear letting out a howl of agony, stumbling away from Rock, strong enough to pull Rock's blade from his hands, stuck in its side like a thorn. Rock stood in front of the boys, Rush alongside him, snarling at the beast. Rock looked back, a small wave of relief washing over him when he caught sight of X's chest rising and falling. He turned back to the bear ready to fight tooth and nail.

When suddenly the bear was without a head.

As the beast slumped, dead, behind it's mass stood Bass. He glared at Rock, and Rock glared back. The Crowned Prince of Roma stabbed his twin blades into the ground and walked towards Rock, his ever loyal beast Trebel sitting back with the Bear's carcass. Rock swallowed, hands clenched into tight fists, Rush growled, but Bass walked past them. Silently, Bass lifted the blonde boy laying next to X into his arms, gave Rock a nod, and walked back, sheathing his blades and leaving.

Kalinka and Rock have known each other since childhood after quite the adventure, involving many hijinks, Kalinka's father doing evil to save her life and Kalinka annoying the bits out of Bass while he makes her stay in Wily castle "comfortable" (Bass' mother is still alive at this point and she INSISTED her son have good manners while they have a guest, even if she's a kidnapped little damsel, the tiara and pink dress she is wearing in the first drawing is from Bass' mother letting her play dress up, and it's what Blues saves her in)

Kalinka is rescued by Blues but she looks to Rock as her real knight in shining armor after he saves her father. The Cossaks have been close friends with the Royal family ever since and were the first outside the castle to hear the news of King Light's passing.