Seeing Red - Chapter 2

Warnings: Fighting.
Pairing(s): None
Included Characters: SoTotallyToby/Toby Cottrell, inthelittlewood/Martyn Littlewood, Zekkyou
Word Count: 3,389

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Chapter 2: The Missing Prince

Martyn ran. He didn't know where he was going. He just needed to get out before he hurt someone else. He was barely looking where he was going. He knew that he could probably navigate this part of the Castle with his eyes closed.

But if you don't see a red-coated boy walking towards you, they become incredibly difficult to avoid. And as such, he very nearly ran straight into them.

In all fairness, they hadn't really been focusing on what was in front of them either. Staring at the floor, deep in concentration. He hadn't noticed the grey Prince hurtling his way until he was knocked back by him. Stumbling and nearly falling down the stairs he'd just climbed.

"What the.." He muttered as he spun around, catching a glimpse of fearful blue eyes staring back. "Martyn?" He choked in shock as he realised who had run into him.

"Just leave me alone!!" Martyn yelled back. Disappearing around a corner and out of sight. Electric blue eyes stared at the now empty staircase for a moment before blinking rapidly. Trying to figure out what had just happened.

"Ok Zekk, do we follow him or try to figure out what happened first?" He said to himself before something clicked inside his brain. "Toby.." He breathed, suddenly flooded with dread. He turned quickly and sprinted down the way Martyn had come. He knew where he was going. He just hoped nothing bad had happened..

As Zekkyou ran down the corridor, he cast a quick spell. His eyes changing from blue to red as his magic activated. He could now see in thermal. And this came in useful more often than perhaps it should. He kept moving, looking for a very particular heat signature.

As soon as he turned into the corridor that housed Martyn's quarters, he saw what he was looking for. The signature of a tiny boy through the stone brick walls. Sat on the floor and hunched over, completely still..

Zekkyou skidded to a stop just outside the door, which was still slightly ajar from when Martyn had fled. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment to clear his vision as his magic faded, and his eyes drifted back to their usual electric blue colour. He was far too young to be using that kind of spell, but he didn't really care.

Slowly, Zekkyou opened the door half-way and walked inside, immediately seeing who he'd come looking for. Toby was sat on his knees in the same place that he'd stood when Martyn had left. He was hunched over and had his arms wrapped around his chest, head down, staring at the floor. Zekkyou could hear him breathing heavily and muttering things to himself. What happened..?

"Toby?" Zekkyou spoke softly. Toby became alert very quickly as his head jolted up and he stopped muttering. He looked round slightly to see the black-haired boy still stood by the door. "You ok?" Toby's dark eyes narrowed and he looked down at the floor again. "Toby?"

"W-We need to f-find Martyn." The smaller boy sniffed. Stuttering and shaking as his arms fell to his sides and he looked back up at Zekkyou.

"What happened? Why was he so.. Scared? I'm not sure.. He nearly knocked me down the stairs.." Zekkyou said quickly, though his voice was still soft, rather than bouncy and cheeky like normal. He walked over to Toby and knelt beside him. Looking closer at the smaller boy. He could see wet streaks down his cheeks. His eyes were scared and tired. And one side of his face was tinted red. A smudge of purple already forming beneath his eye.

Zekkyou cocked his head to the side as he spotted this last thing. And then his eyes grew wide as everything came into place. "Did he.. Did he hit you?!" Toby flinched and quickly covered his face with his hands. But Zekkyou had already seen. "Toby.."

"H-He.. He d-didn't mean it... It.. It was an a-accident.." Toby stuttered, looking at Zekkyou through the gaps between his fingers. The older of the two sighed and rested a hand on the smaller's shoulders.

"Why though? Why did it come to that?" Zekkyou paused for a moment as Toby moved his hands away from his face, staring at the floor again, rather than looking at his friend. After realising he wasn't going to get a response, he continued. "Ok. I'm gonna ignore that his hair was green for a moment, and focus on the fact that we should probably go and find him."

"Yes. We should. But.. But me wanting to see him when he didn't want to be seen is what caused this to happen in the first place.." Toby responded quickly, sounding desperate and confused. Zekkyou thought for second. Biting at the nail on his little finger.

"Then why did they let me in?" He muttered to himself. But Toby heard and replied quickly.

"I was gonna ask you that. I nearly wasn't allowed in. So how are you here?"

"Urr.. Can't remember what the woman said.. Um.." Zekkyou paused and fell silent for a moment, his hand dropped away from his mouth and he rolled his eyes. More to himself than anything else. "I should learn to pay more attention. Hm.. Anyway. That's not important. We do need to find Martyn before he does something silly. But how? Where will he be?" He continued. Moving so that he was sat in front of Toby. Sitting cross-legged and leaning forwards, his elbows on his knees. Toby raised an eyebrow at his friend before speaking.

"Come on Zekk, wake up. He'll be out in the forest. Where else would the forest prince be?"

"Well yeah. Duh. Martyn would live in the trees like a monkey if he could. But no. What I mean, is more where exactly will he be. Not what general area will he be in. Hmm.. To get to the forest from here he'd have to run through the city. People would definitely see him then."

"He could be anywhere, he could be 20 feet off the ground in a tree, and he wouldn't need to go to the city gates. There's a gap in between the city walls just behind the Castle. We've used it loads of times to sneak out and he might have used it to get out too." Toby replied smoothly. Suddenly seeming much calmer. Zekkyou snapped his fingers and pointed at the brunette.

"Yes. Forgot about that." He lowered his hand and tapped his chin absently for a moment. "But Martyn is ridiculously fast on his feet. And trying to keep up with him when he's in the trees is very very hard. I speak from personal experience on the latter. If we are gonna go after him we need to stop talking about it and actually do it. The longer we wait the further away he'll get. There's plenty of daylight left. So that's not an issue. It's more a case of actually finding him in his second home. Even if I can track him, it's gonna be hard.." Toby stood up and straightened his jumper before looking back at Zekkyou.

"I know a few places he uses as hiding spots. Most of them are particular trees or caverns and things that we've found. Maybe he's gone to one of them." Toby said cooly as he grabbed his scarf from the floor.

"And if he hasn't?" Zekkyou said as he stood up. Towering over the younger boy despite the relatively small age gap.

"Then we keep looking. You're good at finding things and people aren't you? And as you said. There's plenty of daylight left. And the forest's usually pretty safe this time of day." Toby was starting to sound very serious, and very grown-up for someone so young. Zekkyou hadn't really seen him like this before.

"I'm not going into the forest completely unarmed if that's what you're suggesting." He replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"No! No no no. Of course not. That would be silly. No. It's midmorning. So any monsters that came out last night would have retreated and no more will come out whilst the sun's up. Just avoid the dark areas of forest and we'll be fine." Toby paused before smiling up at the black-haired boy in front of him. "See. I do listen to Martyn's 'rules of the forest'."

"I never questioned it." Zekkyou smiled softly. Before gesturing at the door and bouncing slightly on his feet. "Let's go." Toby simply nodded as he wrapped his scarf around his neck. The two headed out the door and towards the forest. This was certainly going to be an interesting couple of hours.

The pair managed to run across the foyer without being seen. Or. If nothing else. Without being talked too. They didn't really want to be questioned about what was going on.

They snuck through the side door and around the edge of the huge building. Having to clamber over a few low fences in order to get to the passage behind it. Hidden behind some overgrown ivy was a hole in the thick stone work that made up the city walls.

There were pathways, passages and stairs inside that once lead to the battlements atop the grand structure that surrounded the Kingdom. You could still access them. Though they were completely off-limits to civilians. Not that it stopped Martyn from going up there fairly regularly. But the world was at peace now, and as long as the high-ups and deities kept their end of the deal, it would stay that way. Battlements like the ones that once lined the Kingdom weren't needed anymore. Not really. Or at least, not as far as the King and Queen were concerned. And thus, they had fallen into disrepair. There were still sections up front kept in working condition. But most of it was no longer used. The tunnels inside the walls were still there though, barely lit and overgrown. Hardly touched anymore.

Squeezing through a spot where a few of the huge stone bricks had come lose was surprisingly difficult. Even for a pair of young boys who had used said hole multiple times before, it was awkward to fit through the gap. But they managed. And before long they were surrounded by plant life, the great city walls standing tall behind them.

The grass was littered with stray leaves from the surrounding trees, creating a red and yellow mosaic across the forest floor. If they hadn't have been looking for Martyn, they likely would have taken a moment to admire the Autumn beauty. But instead, they went straight to searching for their friend.

Zekkyou's eyes shifted from blue to red as he took a few steps forward. Gaze darting back and forth but not leaving the ground. Toby stayed silent and let him do his thing. Zekkyou was an excellent tracker for his age. And as his magic grew stronger, he learnt new spells and strengthened old ones that made him even better. Though the two main spells he used were his thermal-vision spell, which he'd used earlier. And a slightly more complicated trick, that helped find evidence of something or someone having passed through an area. Footprints, markings and the like that would be harder to see with the naked eye.

After a few moments of silence. Zekkyou pointed down at the ground. Toby looked at where he was pointing and waited for him to speak.

"The grass is still damp. There's footprints left from where someone, presumably Martyn, ran through here. They're faint, probably been here about ten minutes. So he can't be too far away." The black-haired boy spoke simply as he looked up at Toby.

"Great. Ok. So. Which way do we go?" Toby replied. Zekkyou didn't speak. He merely gestured for the smaller boy to follow as he headed off into the forest, his eyes still faintly glowing red, Toby followed swiftly behind, careful not to lose sight of Zekkyou.

They weren't walking for long before the trail vanished. And there was no sign of past movement on the ground. Toby looked up at the trees. Hoping to see a familiar figure perched in the branches. Zekkyou's eyes remained fixated on the ground though. Trying to figure out where to go next.

Then he spotted something. Newly broken bark, on the trunk of a tree near where the footprints stopped, and a tiny piece of black fabric, torn and caught on the tree trunk. "Toby, he's in the trees.." Zekkyou said quickly, grabbing the smaller boys attention back.

"Obviously. This is Martyn we're talking about here." Toby shrugged as he looked at Zekkyou. "Which way did he go?"

"I'm not sure." Zekkyou replied, his voice suddenly rather distant as he looked up at the canopy above them. Looking for some sign of the Princes presence. After a moment, he muttered. "Disturbed branches, broken bark, torn leaves.. A tiny bit of blood? Hm.. He's in a hurry that's for sure.." He paused for a moment before continuing, speaking louder as he looked at Toby. "I'm gonna take a guess and say he went that way though." As he spoke he pointed roughly East of their current location. Toby nodded, and they headed off again. Zekkyou in front as he followed the alarmingly visible trail Martyn had left behind.

They walked for a while. Not really finding anything new. Merely following the trail. And hoping they could find who they were looking for.

After about twenty minutes they started to hear unpleasant noises coming from the undergrowth. Growls and hisses of wild animals and, possibly, stray monsters. They may have been young, but they could defend themselves. Still. Encountering hostile creatures in the forest wasn't desirable in the slightest..

Unfortunately though, you rarely have a choice in the matter. And after five minutes of the noises getting louder. A stray arrow whizzed past Zekkyou's head. Making him freeze for a moment as he realised what it was. They both spun around to see a skeleton archer staring blankly at them from underneath a nearby tree. Bow clutched in its bony hand.

Electricity crackled at Zekkyou's fingertips, the red in his eyes brightened as his magic grew stronger. He stared at the creature. Waiting for it to make a move. Slowly, it reached its hand back to its quiver to take another arrow. But before it had a chance to so much as find the feathers at the end of the projectile, Zekkyou had switched into attack mode. He'd vanished from Toby's side and moved at lightning speed towards the beast. Within seconds the boys dagger had been thrust through the skeletons chest, it's brittle bones cracked and split as the boy slash at it a few more times. As Zekkyou jumped back, the creature limply fell to its knees before collapsing completely onto the floor. After a few seconds it disappeared in a puff of purple smoke. Leaving nothing but a few stray bones and an arrow on the grass.

If he hadn't seen him do similar things countless times before, Toby would have been surprised at the older boys ability and willingness to kill, even if it was just a skeleton. But he wasn't. Not at all. He'd known Zekkyou long enough to know that the black-haired boys young age wasn't important. He was living proof that you had to grow-up fast to survive in this world. And learning to fight and kill the hostile creatures that lurked in the shadows was a necessity. For anyone who wished to venture outside the relative safety of their home.

Zekkyou strolled back to Toby as if nothing had happened. His eyes were pure electric blue again and any signs of the red that lingered with his magic had vanished. He looked quite calm considering what he'd just done.

They remained silent for a few minutes, neither of them seeming to have anything to say. But Toby kept smiling at his friend.

"We should keep moving." Zekkyou finally spoke, his eyes shifting back to red as his spells were reactivated.Toby nodded. And they headed off once again. More cautious of the world around them than before.

They weren't walking for long before the feral noises began growing louder again. And after a few more minutes they found a large clearing, with a huge oak tree standing tall in the middle. There were monsters of all kinds, zombies, skeletons, spiders, hostile wolves, even an enderman and a creeper, huddled in the shade of the tree, looking up at something, or someone, hiding in its branches. Zekkyou and Toby remained silent as they watched from the edge of the clearing, trying to figure out what was going on.

They remained undetected for a time. But it didn't last as long as they would've liked. And not long after they'd arrived, two of the creatures, zombies, one with an iron helmet on it's head, the other clutching a stone shovel, separated from the group and started heading towards the pair.

Zekkyou didn't hesitate to attack. Drawing his blade quickly and heading towards the first of the monsters. Toby wasn't quite so fast, but managed to distract the other one long enough for Zekkyou to kill the first, it was less than a minute before both were dead.

But this grabbed the attention of the remaining monsters. And there were a lot more than two. At least fifteen creatures of various shapes and sizes all turned towards the two boys. A variety of aggressive growls and bared fangs followed before they began to attack.

The first two to approach were simple enough. A pair of wolves, big and strong with sharp teeth and claws but not all that hard to kill. Zekkyou killed one of them by slashing its throat when it pounced. Toby dodged the wild dogs attack and swiftly drove his dagger through the back of its neck. After that. Things went very bad. Very quickly.

All of the remaining monsters seemed to get too close at exactly the same time. Zekkyou managed to take down two more zombies before getting flung backwards by another. He landed on his back a few metres away and it took a moment for his head to stop spinning.

Toby wasn't faring any better. He wasn't bad at fighting, no, not really, considering his age and his size he was actually quite good, not as good as Zekkyou, but still pretty decent. But that was in controlled circumstances, where there wasn't any real threat. This was different. This was a very dangerous situation for two young boys to be in. And Toby knew that even with Zekkyou's ability they couldn't kill everything here..

Zekkyou staggered to his feet and the first thing he saw was Toby being surrounded by one group of monsters as the other closed in around himself.

Electricity sparked at his fingers as he stood up straight. What was essentially a ball of lightning formed in his left hand whilst he held his steel dagger in his right. Throwing his left hand out in front of him, a bolt of electricity shot from his palm and hit one of the zombies square in the chest. It convulsed slightly before falling to the ground, the electricity leapt to a nearby hostile wolf, and killed that too, before fading away.

Zekkyou quickly dashed through the gap he'd created, hopping over the dead bodies before they vanished, as he headed towards his friend. He jumped onto the back of one of the zombies that was surrounding the smaller boy, swinging his arm around its shoulders and slashing at its throat and chest, it quickly fell and Zekkyou bounced off of it and stood beside Toby, who was clutching his dagger so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.

Once the electricity had vanished, Zekkyou placed his free hand on Toby's shoulder, which seemed to make him relax a little, though he was still very tense, and rightfully so, they were positively surrounded.

"I should have just stayed at home.." Zekkyou heard Toby mutter as the monsters grew ever closer, snarling, growling, hissing. How were they going to get out of this one?