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If one can describe their situation right now, it must be a bunch of awkward synonyms.
How the hell is Kyomoto Taiga, the next in line for the Fire Nation throne, just accidentally saw himself naked in the shower of the Academy’s shared bathroom?!
Hokuto tried his best to keep his cool but it was very hard while the prince snorted sarcastically, clearly failing to hold his laugh.
“I suppose we happened to run to each other again, Matsumura-kun,”
“This isn’t very nice to be recalled as a meeting,”
“That I know.”
The black-haired boy scoffed and went out of his way to the changing room. He didn’t notice the prince had followed him. Praise the Gods because they didn’t send a heart attack to Hokuto’s poor organ the moment he caught the pale-haired prince within his sight.
“What is it again, Your Highness?”
“The shower,” Taiga asked shyly, on purpose. “How do you turn on the heater? I can’t handle cold water in the morning.”
Sigh.
Taiga might be a prince, but he’s no different than a five-year-old.
The patience in Hokuto’s veins is running thin.
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There are better days.
Taiga coughed the blood in his throat, immediately reaching for his wrist cuffs in his pocket—a sign he urged the elders to stop the training. The ugly marks on both of his hands aren’t becoming prettier in every meeting. He’s been dreading this special training forever.
Attached to his title, there is a big responsibility. He is the only prince, which means he would take the throne someday.
However, without fire, the future seems so blurry.
“Every second counts,” his wise father once said. Taiga could only wonder how much time he had wasted by not mastering the firebender. Twenty-four years? It’s almost a quarter of a millennium then. If by age twenty-five he couldn’t produce a fire within his barehand, maybe the throne would be passed to his uncle right away.
And it’s almost a quarter of a millennium of him cursing Gods for not blessing him with firebender the moment he was born into this world. What kind of joke is that—for a Fire Prince to not be able to firebend?
The only thing he could create is burn scars. Oh, wait, the anxiety also made him cough blood for no reason. So ironic because every time he focuses on the fuel within his blood, he could only hurt himself. As unsightly as it is, it’s also a harsh reminder of what he isn’t capable of. A reminder of his bitter fate. Something he nearly gave up on himself.
When Father decided to send him to the farthest point of the Kingdom, a place with a small firebend academy he bet no one knows, Taiga convinced Father also intended on giving up. It’s useless, anyway. He wouldn’t learn. He couldn’t .
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It’s another day of running into Matsumura Hokuto. The Brown Falcon, people dubbed him. Taiga expected to frequent him because of course, it’s impossible to avoid the brightest student in the Academy when he’s literally everywhere. Though the biggest cause for Brown Falcon to be associated with him is because of his loner attitude.
Matsumura Hokuto is a model student. He skipped level because he was able to control the fire on the advanced set since he was in the first year. He gives supplementary lessons to the youngsters and happens to be active as the academy’s theatre actor.
The elders always pushed his story in front of Taiga’s face. Hokuto this, Hokuto that. Life seems so easy for a genius like him. Jealousy isn’t something foreign to Taiga. They also told Hokuto to take care of Taiga during his stay here, making Taiga’s heart conflicted. He is a grown man, he needs no guidance. Taiga could take care of himself.
In his early days of stay, he followed one of the elders’ advice to go along with Hokuto. He basically tailed the black-haired boy around; to the class, to the village, even to the theatre class. The irks that the elders left with their stories about Hokuto slowly faded once he knew that Hokuto is indeed a hard worker. Given the credits by the people around him, Hokuto appreciated it—but it only drove him to crave more perfection.
But still, he couldn’t bring himself to be casual around Hokuto. The other boy did the same. It’s always awkward whenever they are together.
Even Taiga assured Hokuto must hate himself and saw him as a nuisance.
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“Your Highness?”
Hokuto successfully popped him out of his daze, with a ball of fire in his hand, enough to make him able to see Taiga. The place is indeed rather sunless. He startled and nearly pushed the boy in front of him, risking himself to get burned.
“I’m sorry. Do the elders send you here?”
“No, I was about to start a lesson for the first levels. I happened to see you walking here which is rare,” here means the back of the training field. It’s been Taiga’s only favorite thing on this island since he found a small lake near it. Nobody ever visited it, so he figured he had the place for himself.
Now Hokuto knows.
“Rare is not something you should address to me when you rarely even observe what I’m doing, Mr. Falcon,” Taiga didn’t mean it as a sharp retort, but let this one slide out of his tongue.
“Alright, Your Highness. But please don’t overstay yourself near the lake. We don’t want our Prince to be harmed by the unfriendly bats, they always lurk around once it’s dawn,”
“Don’t worry, they are my friends.”
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The winter solstice is almost here—the preparation for the festival on this island is crazy.
They always throw worship on the winter solstice as it was entitled the victory day of Fire Nation’s soldiers. They won the battle against the Four Kingdoms on this very day, hence why it was settled as the strongest day for the firebender. The pride of the Fire Nation.
Taiga tried to help around, but of course, the community would pamper him instead of letting him do the work. A prince without fire could only help little, though.
The lake is so far from the crowd right now. So here he was, on his little runaway.
The blood on his tongue still tasted tangy after today’s training. They forced Taiga to centralize the energy on his palm again this evening, leaving no room for him to cover after this morning’s strength-building. Needless to say, the blood was certainly going to lump in his throat and his arms were now covered in new burns.
The Royals often told him the wrist cuffs he wore resembled too much femininity for a prince like him. However, that word can be damned. He couldn’t afford his people to see him in such a state. Ugly, bruised.
Weak.
He heard the bat coming, dangling on the branch on top of his head. Taiga laughed to himself. How long had he been drowning in his thoughts? The dawn has come. Maybe it’s time to go back, face the reality. He looked up to the sky and was surprised to see a bunch of dark clouds hanging in the sky.
Thunderstorms? On the winter solstice?
A bad omen might form into a shape right now. Probably for him.
Taiga hurried his steps to the Academy and found himself dumbstruck to see Hokuto, a few feet away from him, desperately looking for oxygen, with a fire on top of his hand as the only source of light.
“Your Highness, the storm is on the way. We need to go. The Royal King is also in our hall waiting for you.”
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The elders frantically urged everyone to look for Kyomoto Taiga once they learned the thunderstorms would be coming. An unusual occurrence on the winter solstice, one might shape into bad luck. The Royal King’s visit also freaked everyone out. No one could find the pale-haired boy and it annoyed him to death.
And of course, out of all places, Kyomoto Taiga would be standing near the hidden lake with a bunch of bats dangling on top of where he stood. Unaware of the surroundings, even with the obvious canvas of dark clouds in front of him.
He stomped his way to the older when suddenly he felt the walk got longer. Yes, the place seemed to stretch out. He ran to him. He didn’t know what happened–he thought he was running this whole time. But why couldn't he reach him? He cursed under his breath because no, he didn’t want to be involved if the prince is going to be the one who got the bad omen today. He tried to get close to him again and completely failed.
So he just stood there.
He lit a fire on top of his hand to make the prince aware of his position.
Thankfully, he turned back.
“Your Highness, the storm is on the way. We need to go. The Royal King is also in our hall waiting for you.”
Taiga looked at him with a face he couldn’t read. Before Hokuto could process it, suddenly a bolt of lightning struck from the sky, right in front of his face.
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“I carried you. At least, before you say anything, a thank you would be nice,”
Hokuto jumped out of the bed when he succeeded to build an image from his blurry vision once his eyes opened. Taiga is now sitting next to his bed, face full of held-back sarcasm.
Shit, he probably passed out.
“So, the Falcon is afraid of thunder?”
Hokuto bit back a retort. “Thank you, Your Highness.”
“It was you who plastered with the bad omen,” Taiga reached for a damp towel on the small table and gave it to Hokuto. “You’re a lightning-bender yourself, aren’t you? What’s happening back there?”
“When it is right that lightning is within my spectrum of firebend, I’m apologizing for I am refusing to answer your question, Your Highness.” He took the damp towel and placed it on top of his forehead.
“Stop with the ‘Your Highness’ thing. Bet you curse me with my name all the time in your little head,”
Hokuto was silent for a moment before coming back with, “Yes, indeed.”
Taiga snorted.
“I’ll be around. Thanks for being the reason to avoid my Father.”
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There weren't any stars in the sky as the storms continued for the next two days.
Hokuto lit a candle with one swoop of his hand. His nest had been too comfortable for him to stay, but maybe staying inside was the best answer as he was always startled at every chance of the natural lightning would bounce within the windows.
He hadn’t met Kyomoto Taiga since then. The elders knew about his condition so it was expected for him to be released from any responsibility as the storms kept raging outside. He bundled up in his blanket, writing incantations for the next trick he could use for the theatre shows. Crafting little scrolls for his silly little art.
Hokuto barely remembered days without seeing Kyomoto Taiga these past few months. It had been that long since he was occupied by the prince, catching him up with a lot of things, and trying to make his stay a little better. There are days he saw the prince coughing blood, but there are also days he looked at him as if he was just another man like him, curious about exploring the village, and finding something new along the way. Not the fireless prince of Fire Nation—just a Taiga, with his troublesome ass and peculiarity.
Sometimes, Hokuto wonders: does Taiga ever get tired of being the prince with all the sparkly itty-bitty responsibilities?
Because for him, having the island community’s expectations on his back could only do so much to raise his spirit. It was more like something to dread his steps, one that leads to failure. Imagine having the nation’s hopes on your back.
He couldn’t relate. Maybe that’s why they don’t get along nicely. It’s all just a formal facade.
On nights when the stars were aligned clearly in the sky, Hokuto sometimes wished for a normal life. Without the ability to firebend, without his skills, without people’s eyes on him. He could be the loner that he wanted.
Does Taiga ever feel the same?
Drowning in his thoughts, Hokuto brushed it off and focused back on his roll.
He didn’t realize he’s been writing a story about a loner fireless Fire Prince.
Unconsciously.
Well, he’ll be damned.
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Sometimes he woke up in the middle of the night, full of sweat. Dreams about abusive parents, houses filled with flame, and the excessive sound of people crying—it was almost like his memories were forced to flood out.
This was one of those days.
He wasn't even sleeping in his bed. He happened to sleep in the middle of his scriptwriting. The ink on his quill had gone dry and he had left the scroll open for a while. Such a bad manner.
Hokuto tried to stand up, only to find himself staggered because he lost his balance the moment the fire of his candle lit out.
“Shit,”
The storm was still rampaging outside. The sole eye of brightness for this room came from the array of moonlight between his ventilation. Hokuto peeked over, surprised to see the gradation of violet and dark blue in the sky; in such a way that looked like God was doing abstract painting while crying.
Well, God can't be the only one who's crying as Hokuto noticed there's someone standing in the middle of the dorm's lawn. He stood up straight, chin up, but Hokuto could tell he had been crying with how red those eyes were. His pale-colored hair reflected the purple sky, bathed by the whole horizon.
Taiga. It was Kyomoto Taiga.
Hokuto didn't realize he'd been holding his breath. Taiga's red eyes challenged the storms, wrist cuffs long gone as his eyes could trace the vines of burn scars along his arms. Very open to the world, vulnerable; something Hokuto would never expect to associate with someone like Taiga.
He is certainly sure his vision is still great and there is no possibility of him going blind—nevertheless, Hokuto couldn't bring himself to trust it when he saw those marks light up when lightning struck the ground.
And it was the first time Hokuto ever saw Taiga laughing without a hint of sarcasm or bitterness.
When he also saw the very own fingers of Kyomoto Taiga pointing out to the sky and sending back thunder, Hokuto wanted to hide.
Maybe the fireless prince was different, after all.
However, the weird gravity brought his feet to the storage box, hands unconsciously retrieving a dry towel for the figure in the rain. There might be some sort of magic in the way Taiga's eyes lit up with the newfound ability of his, something that attracted Hokuto to dig more about him.
Hokuto stood under the dorm's outer canopy, greeted Taiga the moment he walked in. The boy was definitely surprised, he could tell by the constantly dilated pupils that weren't able to hide lies.
"Found something you lost?"
But then, Taiga smirked as he received the towel from Hokuto's hand. "It probably has been here all along. I was just afraid to be weak."
"You haven't let yourself burn, though,"
"Soon, Matsumura-kun. Soon."
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The thrill of finding something foreign about your body was there.
At first, it was hard to process. The moment he saw Hokuto fall to the ground, panic made him rush to his side—until the ground started to shake and he realized: the arms he'd been using to support the black-haired boy were full of lights. To be precise, it was his scar burns; they almost looked like they were perfectly meant to align in his arms, like a constellation, shining and full of power that could explode every time.
Strange. But strange was never an unfamiliar thing in his life.
The rumble of dark clouds in the sky could only do so much to tell about this phenomenon. Was the winter solstice trying to tell him something? Well, they better make it clear because Taiga admits he is kind of an idiot and he just wants an immediate answer. Hokuto could be dying in his arms so Gods should stop playing around.
It might be an adrenaline rush, but Taiga was more sensitive to things at that time. The way he could track the next lightning strike was getting scarier with how accurate it is. As an instinct, he immediately swooped Hokuto in his arms and intended to run for his life to the Academy's dorm. The scar burns can fuck themselves. Answers could come later, he didn't want to risk Hokuto for this. He might be in shock, or worse, got stricken.
The urge to protect this boy was overflowing, even more when he felt his hair strands were standing up, signaling another lightning was on the way. He looked up, feeling alarmed by the closeness of it, and unconsciously tried to alternate it back to the sky—stupidly, with his own hands.
Turned out, it freaking worked. Taiga couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the tip of his fingers were sending waves of electricity, probably on a different pole, muting the strike while also alternating it back to the sky. Is this even possible? The blue flame around it made it worse since Taiga remembered this is the only technique that required the bender to have Royal blood.
It's so weird. Weird could even be an understatement.
But those can wait for later, he was sure the elders have the answers. For now, he needed to take Hokuto away from here.
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Taiga thought of that incident as his little secret—that he shared with the elders. Hokuto passed out at that time, he was sure that boy didn't even know about shits. He didn't intend to tell his parents about the history of him to find his newfound ability either. They only knew that their only son happened to skip the central firebend phase straight to the lightning-bend instead.
It took a bunch of training, crying, and coughing blood for him to finally be able to enjoy some leisure time. He decided to skip some village stroll and headed straight to the last show of today's theatre.
Well, there was a little bird this morning that told him Hokuto wrote the story for the stage.
It wasn't like this was the first time Taiga ever watched a theatre too.
The opening was spectacular, as usual. There were lots of firebender juggling flames and burning incense for effects. It did kick the start, only to have the conflict elevated by how good the actor—yes, it was Matsumura Hokuto himself.
The story told about the changes around the protagonist who happened to be a poor prodigy firebender. His life was taken away from him, his parents neglected him and were abusive towards his siblings. The whole village knew about it yet kept silent. He was in a rage, very mad that he didn't realize the whole premise of him being a prodigy brought danger. He burned his house, flames after flames he shot after he felt he was so done with his family, his destiny, his very own self . Neither his siblings nor the villager could stop him, until he realized he had burned the whole bloc. The patrols were coming and they used lightning to counter him. Flash by flash, strike by strike; it was on the plan not to kill him, he could hear the command, so they purposely missed the aims.
However, the protagonist thought maybe this was the right time to end his life.
As cliche as it is, hopes were always there, even in the darkest times.
The boy was saved after he fainted. Maybe he was done, body tired, brain instinctively trying to shut him off.
The elders scooped him into the Academy and trained him well. The parentage was soon to be passed on to them, knowing so well the protagonist has a complicated one. It was almost in an instant he became the ace of the Academy. The all-rounder everyone loves, even though most of the time he hated the attention.
The story felt fresh for Taiga to watch until something became suspiciously familiar. With how suddenly the protagonist found himself to be in charge of the other protagonist, addressed as the Prince. With how the prince was described as pathetic and peculiar. With how the prince was not able to firebend despite soon carrying the Fire Nation on his back.
Hokuto was not subtle about his scriptwriting at all.
The bewilderment next came in the form of the winter solstice story-telling. Taiga swore he nearly jumped out of his seat when the prince, with Hokuto as the protagonist in his arms, was raising his hand, pointing towards the sky.
It was almost like a deja vu.
When the show finished, Taiga rushed to find the staff, informing them he was there to congratulate the performers—when in fact, he had one specific person in mind.
They greeted Taiga cheerfully, looking bright while the adrenaline was still high. Hokuto was standing a bit far from everyone, leaning on a rack, observing. Taiga took his time to congratulate everyone before excluding himself, eyeing Hokuto to follow him to go outside.
Once the dark blue sky greeted them, they talked, under the orange lanterns.
"You're not very subtle about your writings, aren't you?"
"It's a thank-you gift," Hokuto said. "You saved me, after all."
"In what sense?" Taiga still couldn't wrap the idea around the other's words.
"You think of this island as your alienation. But I think of this island as my new hope," he replied. "And that, including your arrival."
The handful of emotions were hard to process. Taiga was never one to receive the end of sincere gratitude, and he was so sure it felt foreign even for Hokuto to say this to him. After all, he was full-time cursing Taiga in his head a few weeks ago. But he remembered that a prince was not supposed to be vulnerable.
"Thank you, I appreciate it,"
"That's the thing about you," Hokuto's words directly made Taiga's brow furrow. "You never learned to be truthful."
"Ouch, even though I'm supposed to be the Royal Prince?" He didn't know what to expect, so sliding a little rascal tone would never hurt.
But apparently, Hokuto took it the other way. "Being a prince doesn't mean you have to be a liar," he could feel Hokuto's eyes tracing his burn scars behind the wrist cuffs. "I watched you welcome the storms with your bare hands. Maybe soon it should be you serenading the pain of yours with those fingers,"
Taiga looked at his arms, scars, fingers. Ten clumsy stubble fingers that were nothing but the source of his blood-coughing.
"If I recalled, you said 'soon', right?" Hokuto smiled. It was the first time in his life Taiga saw a thin smile with lots of meaning to tell. "Then, it wouldn't hurt to let me see you burn, wouldn't I?"
The connected dots were there.
He figured it out.
Maybe, fire doesn't always symbolize courage. Like the old-tale said. Like his wise father said.
He was meant to be vulnerable to seize it. After all, what is a flame without something to ignite it?
He looked at Hokuto for his revelation finally reached him.
"You saved me,"
The smile didn't fade. "You saved me too."