Chapter 8: The White Twins
Two cats approached the White Rook, white ears perked up as they got near. "I think that's it, big brother," one said to the other. "D'ya think we should knock?"
He looked up. "I suppose that would be polite, at least...."
In the royal bedchambers, Nikado's ears twitched at the voices outside, and he sat up, stretching and revealing sharp teeth as he yawned widely. Ameko stirred in the bed as his warmth was removed from her stomach. "Awake already?" she mumbled, rubbing at her eyes.
"I'm a cat," he said as an explanation. "There's someone outside. I hear voices."
"And Yukita hasn't gone to greet them yet?" She rubbed at her face again, then went to the closet for a shirt and some pants. "I guess we should go, then."
It had been a few days since the Bandersnatch's defeat, and their first night together after Yukita's innuendo had been...awkward to say the least. Nikado had ended up saying 'fuck it' and curling up against her, going to sleep partly as a spite against the snow demon. Now sharing her bed with the cat seemed normal, as did the other things that came with it. I guess we should arrange a ceremony or something, she thought to herself. We need one to make it official, right? So he can have full access to the royal magic as the White King.
She looked over at the cat as he put on his shirt, ears perking as he noticed her watching. "Something the matter?"
"I love your ears," she said with a smile, resting her chin in one hand as she sat on the bed. "They're always moving."
"Oh. I guess so," he said, rubbing at them. "They're really out of my control, they do what they like."
She grinned at that, then slid on her boots, the cat's bare feet padding along behind her as she went to the front gate. On the other side, she could hear a knocking. "Who is it?" she asked, opening the door a short way.
Two cats stood in front of them, each appearing to be in their teens or so, although with the fast rate cats aged to adulthood, she couldn't really be sure. Both appeared to be very similar, with white ears and tail like Nikado's, blue eyes watching both of them with a cheerful expression. They had to be twins, she realized, because of how similar they looked. There were only slight differences in the two faces, and the one wore his hair a little longer, tied back in a short bobtail. "Who are you?" she asked with a frown.
"Well," the one with shorter hair spoke up, "we're your sons. Could we come in?"
She took a full step back. "S-sons?" she got out, looking from one to the other. They had only started that sort of thing a few days ago!
Nikado leaned forward, taking a long sniff of the pair. "Well, they do smell like me," he pointed out. "Smell a bit like you, too. Shall we let them in?"
"...I guess so," she relented, standing aside and letting the pair enter. Both were dressed in white outfits, the one with longer hair also carrying a sword at his side. "Who are you?"
"I'm Keisuke, Keisuke Satoka," the one with shorter hair introduced himself with a little bow. "And this is my younger brother, Daisuke Satoka."
"Pleased to meetcha," the other cat greeted with a wide grin, sword thumping against his leg as he bowed. "You can call us Kei and Dai when we're with others."
"I'm...pleased to meet you," Ameko managed. "But if you don't mind my asking, how did you get here?"
"Through the forest," Daisuke stated, pointing.
"It's a bit of a long story, Mother," Keisuke said. "Perhaps you'd prefer to sit down so we can talk? I'll make you some tea."
"Yes, that might be a good idea," Ameko agreed, mind still whirling as she led the way, the two younger cats bounding along gleefully behind Nikado, tails held high. "Nikado, what do you think?"
"Saying they came from the forest is an explanation in itself," he offered. "Let's see what they have to say."
Yukita was already in the kitchen, a cup of tea in her hands. She paused as she saw the pair. "Oh? Who's this you've brought into the castle."
"Aunt Yukita!" Daisuke greeted cheerfully with a wave. "Hi!"
The older twin gave him an elbow in the side. "Dummy," he reprimanded, "she doesn't know who you are yet."
"Oh. Hi, Aunt Yukita! I'm Daisuke!"
The snow demon blinked slowly. "'Aunt' Yukita...?"
Keisuke shook his head as Ameko took a seat, accepting the cup Yukita gave her. "So where did you come from?" Nikado asked, hopping up on the table and grooming one of his ears.
Ameko gave him a look. "Get down from there, we do have chairs. You'll get fur all over everything."
"But the chairs aren't as comfortable~" he declared smugly, curling up and resting his head on his arms, watching her with a feline grin as his tail swished about.
"Well," Keisuke began, rubbing at one of his own ears as he decided where to begin. "You may have already figured this out, but we're from the future."
She hadn't, and it made much more sense that way, she realized belatedly. "How did you come to the future?"
"We found the door," Daisuke explained. "The guardian let us through."
"Aizaem did?"
"Aizaem?" Ameko asked.
"He's the White Rabbit, the guardian of the gate of time hidden away in the forest. I've run into him quite a bit," Nikado explained. "He's a friend of mine."
Keisuke nodded in response to Nikado's question. "We came from the future in order to save the White Kingdom. In our time, it's nearly been destroyed."
"So you mean that the White Queen and White King are deceased?" Yukita asked, watching them with sharp eyes.
Keisuke nodded, ears drooping back. "Yes. It happened when we were children, so we came back to prevent it from happening."
"What was the cause of the death?"
Keisuke shook his head, a clear indicator that he didn't know. "Well, we're not dead here, so I guess so far it's working," Ameko said. "Although it's probably a bit early. We haven't had children yet."
"That's okay!" Daisuke declared, rubbing against her cheerfully. "Now you do! Now you won't be sad and lonely anymore!"
Nikado laughed. "I can believe that's my son, all right."
Ameko shook his head. "What did I do to deserve a bunch of cats ganging up on me? Now I'll never sleep at night."
Nikado and Daisuke both gave her feline grins, tails swishing in contentment. "It is a shame we do not know what potential threat we will be facing within the next few years," Yukita stated. "No one told you what it was?"
"You only told us that it was Neverland, Aunt Yukita," Daisuke said.
She crossed her arms, frowning at that. "I hereby resolve to be less obfuscating in the future."
"I agree with that," Ameko spoke up. "So what is it you've come back to do, then? Just play bodyguard?"
"We came to fill your White Court," Keisuke explained. "We've both trained very hard for it. I'm a user of magic and Daisuke is a great swordsman. I'm sure we can be of help to you."
"Well...that sounds like a good idea, I suppose," Ameko said slowly. "We do need the help. And I can trust you two."
Keisuke offered her a shy smile, Daisuke grinning happily as he hopped up on the table. "Off," she ordered him firmly, "I may tolerate it from the husband, but not from the son. You're ten years too early, my boy."
"Aww! Can I, papa?" he asked, ears dropping back as he gave Nikado his most endearing look.
"Sure, why not," Nikado agreed readily. "You can hop up here next to me."
"Nikado!" Ameko scowled at him. "That's not the way to raise a child. You have to show a united front!"
Daisuke continued to grin as he snuggled up against his dad. Yukita smiled at the group, turning back to the stove. "I will prepare us breakfast, then."
Breakfast was a casual affair, Keisuke letting Daisuke do most of the talking about their upbringing. The pair had largely been raised by Yukita with help from Nikado's sister, Talira. "I don't think I've ever met her," Ameko observed.
"She'll come looking for me eventually, Nikado noted with a shrug. "She usually does."
"How very peculiar," Yukita observed as she poured another round of tea. "I do hope that I was not utterly disgraceful in the act of raising children. I have not done it for quite sometime, you understand, and never with male children."
Nikado shrugged. "Seem to have done well enough."
After breakfast was finished, Ameko decided to continue her restoration of the castle, heading off to the upper levels. Nikado rested against the walls, tail swishing slowly as he surveyed the kingdom sprawled out around him. His kingdom, he realized with an odd feeling. Talk about one hell of a territory.
The sound of bare feet on the stairs made him look up, and Daisuke paused when he saw his father looking at him. "Ah...I'm not interrupting, am I?" he asked, suddenly shy.
The older cat shook his head, gesturing for Daisuke to come over and sit. "You've got my ears," Nikado observed, touching them with a clawed hand.
"Aunt Yukita says we have our mother's eyes, too," Daisuke said, ears perking as he looked up at his father.
"Is that so? I can believe it," he said after a moment. "So you're going to be filling in as our White Knight, right?"
Daisuke nodded eagerly. "I'm real good. Would you like to see?"
"Like to see?" Nikado felt a moment of hesitation, but acknowledged that he needed to learn how to use the Sword of the Lion and the Unicorn. He couldn't merely rely on a bunch of old memories that were now swimming around in his blood. "Sure, let's go out to the courtyard and we'll see what you've got."
Daisuke bounced up and down with excitement as he raced down the stairs, the older cat following at a leisurely pace before withdrawing the sword out of its sheath. "Okay, let's do this."
Drawing his own sword, Daisuke let out a yell, charging his father with a powerful horizontal slash. Instinctively, Nikado raised his own sword, blocking the strike with the blade held vertically, supported by his hand at the top. Wasting no time, Daisuke closed the distance, bringing the sword down in a controlled blow. Nikado switched his grip, blocking with his sword held high, and the force almost drove him to his knees. Before he realized it, Daisuke's sword was close to his throat, the younger cat looking confused. Then he laughed. "Papa, you're terrible."
"Cut me some slack," he grumbled, batting Daisuke's sword aside as he got to his feet. "I only got this thing a few days ago."
Daisuke's ears perked at that. "Then I guess you haven't cut yourself on it yet."
"No, I have," Nikado said, gesturing to his shoulder. The wound had completely healed within hours, leaving only a small white scar.
Daisuke's brow furrowed. "Then I guess it happened again in the future."
"What makes you say that?"
Daisuke turned away, ears flicking shyly. "Well, I, uh...I've cut myself on it, too." He held up his hand, revealing a white scar on his palm. "The memories I have are...different."
"Memories? Of me?"
The boy looked away, chewing on a claw. "Well, you're...older. And you're a master with the sword. Maybe the best there's ever been. And there's other things, too. You're...strong. And kind, and brave." Daisuke looked over at him and grinned. "I was really glad to meet you."
"I have a lot to live up to, apparently," Nikado said, rubbing at his ear.
Daisuke laughed at that. "I don't know that you have anything to live up to, Papa. You just need to be you. I...." His ears drooped. "I never got to know you, so I don't have any expectations of you. I'm glad that we could meet like this. I want to keep you safe, Papa. I don't want you to die again, I want you to be with me always."
Nikado reached over, ruffling the other cat's ears. "I'm not going anywhere. Cats are tough, you know that."
"It didn't stop you before," Daisuke sniffled.
"Well, it's stopping me now, and besides, that's what you're here for, isn't it? Have some faith." Nikado pulled the boy into a hug, touching his nose to the younger cat's forehead. "Stop worrying."
"Okay, papa."
Nikado smiled, then picked up his sword again. "Now, how about you teach your old man a thing or two so he doesn't get killed, all right?"
In the upper levels of the castle, Ameko had discovered a small room that consisted of nothing but a worn-out, broken table. As she entered, the room began to repair itself, slowly, as if reluctant to put itself together.
"Mother?" She jumped at the voice, and turned. Keisuke took a step back, ears drooping. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I could leave if I'm in the way."
She shook her head, gesturing for him to come in. "You're not in the way. Where's your brother?"
"I believe he's with Father, practicing. Daisuke seemed quite excited at the prospect, so I let him be. I hope he won't be a bother...."
"With Nikado? He gets along better with cats than anyone else, and given that this is his son, I'm sure they'll be fine. You didn't want to join them?"
"I'm not that gifted at combat, like my brother and aunt," he said with a shrug. "I thought I would see if I could lend you a hand with anything."
"Well, I'm just restoring the castle right now," she said with a gesture behind her to the half-restored room. "It's probably not something you can help me with--"
He walked over to the table, fluffy tail swishing slowly as he held out a hand, and the table pulled itself back together on its legs, the finish restoring itself and patterns etching themselves across the table. "I can help you," he said quietly. "I have the bloodline, too."
"So you do. I didn't know it worked for anyone other than myself, but then again I'm the only one that does it unconsciously, it seems. Did Yukita teach you that?"
"She taught me some basic premises of magic, but since our affinities are different, I had to largely figure it out on my own." The young cat's ears flicked.
"I see." She looked over at the table which was now restored, blinking in surprise as shapes began springing from its surface, creating ghostly images of trees and houses. "What in the...."
"It's a map," Keisuke realized. "It's a map of the White Kingdom."
"...So it is." Ameko traced a finger nearby the tiny image of the White Rook. Despite their size, the castle was detailed, incredibly so, to the point where she could see Nikado and Daisuke practicing out in the courtyard. "That's amazing. I wonder how many generations that has been here?"
"I don't know. You could probably find out if you looked into the past," Keisuke suggested.
She gave him a slight grin. "I haven't been doing this for very long. I don't know how to call up the images. They just happen."
"Aunt Yukita told us that those are probably the most vivid memories attached to a place. Powerful and recent," he said. "But if you look, you can see more."
Ameko shook her head. "I don't know how."
"Don't think about it," Keisuke told her. "Just do it. Just feel it."
"That's easier said than done." Ameko let out a sigh before she turned back to the table, thinking as she looked at it. Show me your master. Show me the one that made you.
Her head jerked up as she saw an image, and then realized it was herself, standing at the table and then moving backwards as the scene played out in reverse, and the ghostly image of herself walked out of the room. The place stayed dark, and then she saw another figure, entering the room backwards and consulting the table before exiting in reverse, the events playing out as if in rewind. My grandmother.
Her grandmother reappeared many times in the room, and Ameko noticed she was slowly getting younger, before another figure began appearing, another woman with her grandmother as a child in tow. As she watched, more generations began to play in reverse, showing her her own lineage, the line of Queens who had been the rulers of the White Kingdom, the power figures and the keepers of the royal bloodline. And then finally a woman stepped inside in reverse, then stood in the middle of the room and cast a spell, the table dissolving--or rather, being formed, if the events were played forwards instead of backwards. Ameko looked at the other woman's face, studying it for a long moment. "It's a shame," she murmured. "I don't know your name."
"Did you see it?" Keisuke asked, bringing her back to the present.
She nodded. "It...wasn't as hard as I thought. I'm surprised."
"Magic comes to you naturally, Mother. It's in your blood. The same way...it's in mine," he continued quietly.
Ameko gave the cat a smile, rubbing at one of his ears. "Thank you, Keisuke, that was very helpful. Would you like to continue repairing the rooms?"
"I...would like that a lot," he said, ears perking up and tail beginning to swish in spite of himself. "I'm glad to be able to help you."
She smiled as he began to purr at the rubbing, and it made sense. Keisuke, who had never known his mother, had never met her, had wanted to obtain what every child wants from their mother--approval. "You're a good boy, Keisuke, " she murmured. "Thank you for coming."
"I'm glad I came, Mother."
Jun cursed to himself as he winced at the mild wound on his arm, stumbling back toward the throne room of the Winter Rook, cursing everything that had happened recently. The wound on his arm bled freely, more of an annoyance than a hindrance at this point, and he ripped off a portion of his scarf, tying it up before he moved on.
Emi had already escaped with Fia in tow, and now he was coming back, ready to face off against the monster that was trying to kill his king. "King!" he called out in a raspy tone as he reentered the throne room, feeling exhaustion seep into his very bones. "Get back, you monster!"
The man who had the king pinned to the ground looked up at him, smiling as he saw the boy. Although he appeared human, his blood-red eyes were most certainly not, and his long, purple hair and tanned skin only mildly offset the effect. That was where the similarities ended, though, for Jun was certain, without a doubt, that this creature was not human. Grinning smugly at Jun, he flicked his wrists, and the droplets of blood became darts in midair, aiming for the Winter Knight.
Ducking back behind the doorframe, Jun picked up his knife, slicing open his own finger. He hated to do this, more than anything, but surely the Winter King's life would be worth it. He only hoped Domani could forgive him. If he found out. The Winter King was laying on the ground, a hand to his side from a wound that had been made much worse by the bloodturner.
Bloodturner. He had to be one, and a powerful one, as the damage to Domani indicated. If Jun could get close, he could force the blood back, repair some of the damage...if he could get close. Jumping out from behind the doorframe as the bloodturner moved toward his target again, Jun set out a line of red across the floor, the trail of blood taking on a life of its own, snaking around the older man and binding his arms to his side. "I said," Jun growled out in a low tone, "get away from my king."
The bloodturner faced him with his crimson eyes, grinning slightly. "You really think this will hold me?"
"No," came Domani's voice from the floor, "but this might. Begone!" The king raised his hands, and the bloodturner had a moment of surprise as he was flung through the roof, out into the air. Domani held his hands up, and Jun could sense the cold in the air, that the White King was closing off every entry into the Winter Kingdom. Preparing for a siege.
"Sire!" Jun shouted in alarm, picking up the man as he fell back. "Oh, sire, you shouldn't have done that," he fretted as he reopened his own wound, letting his own blood drip into the king's wounds, closing back up the vessels that relayed the precious fluid across Domani's body. "You're putting your life in danger."
"Have to," the king murmured, his eyes closing. "Have to...protect Rosabella's kingdom."
"Sire!" Jun shouted in alarm, lifting him up carefully, pulling the taller man with some difficulty out of the throne room, out to where Emi and Fia were waiting. "Just hold on, sire. We're going to get you help. You'll be all right, just please, hang on!"
He only hoped that Yukita had managed to do some good. They were going to need it.
