Mizuki held the punching bag in between his hands as he lets out deep, shattered breaths. He's been training for the past three hours after getting off from looking over paperwork his father had given him.
As Mizuki moved back and got into position once again the doors of the gym slammed open and his younger sister bounds into the room and into his arms.
"Mizuki." She cried, her long dark hair tied in a pony tail and her pale face stricken with tears.
Mizuki immediately wraps her in his warm embrace, his large hand rubbing at her back as she continues to shake in his hold.
"Rin, what's wrong?" He asked with panic, never used to seeing his baby sister break down like this.
"R-Roy." She managed to get out and his eyebrows furrow as he pulls her away from his chest so he could look at her face, her usual bright brown eyes filled with pain and heartbreak.
"What happened to Roy, princess?" He asked gently.
"He's dead." She tells him as more tears slide down her flushed cheeks.
Mizuki's eyes widened as his heart dropped to his stomach.
Roy, his friend.
Roy, the boy who was in love with his sister.
Roy, the boy who was telling him about how he planned to marry Rin one day.
He was dead?
"How?" Is all Mizuki managed to say as he tried to keep his emotions in check.
"T-there was a shooting at the border. He was one of the v-victims." She cried out and anger filled into her older brother as he stared at his sister, crying for the man she loved.
"Shh, it'll be alright." He whispered as he rocked her back and forth in his arms, her cries reasoning in the empty gym.
They were standing in the middle of the gym with her crying in his arms when one of the royal soldiers came in and disturbed them.
"Prince Mizuki, His Majesty has requested your presence." The soldier told him, keeping his gaze on the ground.
"Come on Rin, we have to go." Mizuki softly said, pulling away from the hug and grabbing her smaller hand to lead her out of the gym.
During the walk to their father's throne room Rin wiped her face away of tears and straightened her shoulders as she walked. Her demeanour changed as an expression full of determination filled her and as Mizuki noticed this he started to feel dread of what his sister was about to get herself into.
As soon as they entered the large room the King had stepped forward and enveloped his daughter into his arms
"My little princess, I'm so sorry." He murmured kissing the top of her head.
"I promise you, I will avenge your lover's death." He promised her.
"I want to go." She said, taking a step back from her father.
"What?" The king and the prince both asked.
"I want to be the one to avenge his death. I want to fight for his life and the lives of all the other soldiers that died tonight." She said with determination.
"Rin.." Her father started to protest but she shook her head.
"Please, dad." She said, her eyes red with unshed tears. "I have trained my whole life alongside Mizuki. I can do this."
"If you're going, I'm going." Mizuki said, stepping forward and grabbing her hand in his.
"Father, you called me to send me out there, didn't you?" Mizuki said, looking at his father who was staring at his kids with despair.
"I did..but Rin cannot possibly go out there! She is simply 18!" He exclaimed.
"Dad, 18 is the age of allowance to go to to the middle ground." Rin said.
"Yes but... you're my daughter and you're grieving right now. You are not in the right mind to be out there!" He said but Rin stood her ground.
"Mizuki is also your son, no? You preach equality and yet you won't let me go?" She defied and Mizuki's eyes widened at his sister's bravery but they both knew that she had their father wrapped around her finger.
"It is true that I am grieving but this will only push me further to take action against those...monsters who hurt Roy. Will you forbid me of this right?" She pushed and the king sat back on his chair, rubbing his temple in frustration.
"Fine, you can go. But you will not be in the frontlines." He said with finality and she didn't protest, knowing her father's limits.
"This time, it's not a full war zone. They are going to act smart. The warriors they will send out will be dispatched a little everywhere in the middle ground, since their goal is to get to the border and kill more of our soldiers so you both need to be careful." He explained and both of his children listened with attention.
"Mizuki." He called out to his sole son, and heir to the throne. "You will go with the first troop at 5 in the morning tomorrow. Your goal is to defend the borders and stop anyone trying to get near our territory. Also, you must catch anyone and I mean anyone from their royal family if you see one. We need bait. If you cannot catch them then you must kill them." He said staring at his son who nodded.
"Rin." The king stared at his precious daughter and his heart thumped with the thought of sending her out in the blood fest that was the middle ground but he knew that he would not be able to stop her as the law in Rivania stated that anyone above the age of 18 is free to go to the middle ground and fight for their country.
"You will be sent out at 8 with Emilio and his team. You will stay with the team and your goal is to stay near the border and bring in anyone who manages to come through. You don't stray away from the team, do you understand?" He instructed sternly.
"Alright." She nodded her head.
"For my sake and for the sake of your mother, please be careful." He said and they both gave a small smile despite the horrible situation they were stuck in as they nodded.
-
Mizuki stood in front of his mirror staring at his black attire. His raven hair was tied up so it wouldn't get into his face and his dark brown eyes that simply looked black were shining with determination to do good. To come back with good results to show his father and to tell his sister he fought for her loved one. He checked all his pockets, making sure all his knives, bullets and daggers were present. Mizuki's specialty was knives but sometimes he had to use a gun.
As he walked out of his wings and into the main room of the castle where many warriors were saying goodbye to their families he bumped into Aimi, the daughter of his father's close friend.
"Prince Mizuki." She greeted him with a small bow of her head and he nodded back at her.
Mizuki knew that Aimi was somewhat interested in him and he didn't know how to feel about that. He didn't think he was attracted to her but he knew she wasn't the worst.
She was polite, sweet and most of all she knew her boundaries and never disrespected him by pushing him into conversations he didn't want to have or by making unwanted advances that a lot of other people made on him.
"I just wanted to say to please stay safe out there and good luck!" She shyly mumbled when he didn't say anything.
"I will, thank you Aimi." He gave her a small smile and she bowed her head once again before disappearing in the crowd.
After greeting some of his acquaintances, he went out in the stables where most of the warriors were getting their horses. As he walked in everyone greeted him and let him go through.
He made his way where he knew Niko would be. As soon as he was in sight Niko let out a happy whine and Mizuki smiled raising his hand to rub his head.
"Hey." He cooed softly. "Are you ready? This is our first time going out there." Mizuki said and laughed when Niko let out an excited noise.
"Hmm someone's ready huh?" He asked.
"Come on let's go." He said and grabbed the rains to lead him out.
He walked all the way to where they were getting ready to leave and he saw his father giving instructions to the warriors.
"We fight for peace and yet we have to kill to achieve that. But this world is not a peaceful one, it's a world filled with violence and hate and even the nicest people out there have no choice but to use violence for their freedom. I know some of you may not want to kill out there and I'm not asking you to kill but the situation might arise so I'm apologizing in advance. But what I'm asking you to do is to protect! Protect our country and protect our loved ones!" He said and the warriors nodded, all with fierce determination.
As the warriors all mounted their horses, Mikuzi did the same and approached his father.
"Please be careful." The king told his son.
"I will, dad." Mikuzi said.
"Come back to us safe alright? Don't get into a fight you know will put you in danger unless you don't have any other choice. Your safety is first, always." He told his son and Mizuki nodded.
"I love you." The king added quietly and Mizuki smiled widely.
"I love you as well Dad."
And then he was off to war.
Hello! I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter. Please let me know what you think!
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-till next time ð¤