[Legend of Sun Knight] fic: Follow the Sign - Part 2: Backstreet
Title: Follow the Sign - Part 2: Backstreet
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 1,177
Summary: Finding the way back home isn't going to be an easy task, and returning with all of the missing knight-captains will be even harder, but Adair will accept no other outcome, no matter what universe he must travel through to locate them all. A series of snapshots.
Notes: I thought this would be a short and quick fic, but I think this will actually take more than 26 parts. I'm still aiming to make them short snapshots though. We'll be spending a different amount of chapters with each universe. Some will take more, some will take less. This first world is going to span several parts! I'll be naming each part from the same canon with a word starting with the same letter. We're in the Bs at the moment.
Previous part
Part 2: Backstreet
He was caught. Right away too.
Adair has no choice but to climb out from beneath the table. He takes a quick glance at his surroundings and mentally goes through the items in his possession. He decides that the leaf bracelet is his safest bet as an excuse. It's not a great excuse, but Adair has never needed his excuses to be great. It's the way he delivers them that really matters. He is pretty sure he can make anything sound sincere.
"My apologies, I was looking for my bracelet," he says and lifts his arm to show the bracelet to the man who caught him. He fiddles with it, pretending that he has just put the bracelet back on his wrist. As Adair speaks, he catalogs all he sees around him and immediately realizes that he is not going to have an easy time in this foreign world.
The man before him, unlike the rest of the people about the marketplace, is wearing a long coat on top of a black vest and black dress pants. He is also wearing a hat, and from beneath that hat trails a long ponytail. Like his clothes, his hair is black. He would have fit in nicely with the Judgment Knight Platoon with his monochrome palette. The only bit of color on him is the red, fluttering piece of cloth he has around his neck and his red hair tie. His attire makes him stand out like a sore thumb, as he is pretty much covered from head to toe despite the weather not calling for such a way of dressing.
Adair is pretty sure, however, that the man isn't sticking out as much as Adair currently is in his sun knight uniform, blinding white embroidered with gold, complete with white gloves and boots, two swords by his waist. He hears a whisper of, "Is that man cosplaying?" but the words make little sense to Adair.
"Charles is glad you have found your lost item," the man says with a pleasant smile on his face, making no comment about Adair's clothes and swords, as if Adair isn't completely sticking out.
Adair gives him a nod. He also apologizes to the merchant whose table he was under. The merchant is the one who eyes Adair's two swords in distrust.
"Swords, huh? Youngsters nowadays rarely choose swords. It's all guns and stuff. Don't tell me you're playing at being a hero?"
"I prefer swords," Adair fibs. He hasn't the faintest clue what a gun is to have any sort of preference between swords and guns, and he doesn't have enough information to make a call on the "hero" comment, so he opts to leave that part of the question unanswered.
"You're in the minority then," the merchant replies.
"Ah, I am indeed. I like being traditional," Adair ventures to say.
"I guess that explains your clothes!" the merchant laughs.
Adair smiles, glad that the merchant seemed to buy his explanation.
However, he is pretty sure the man called Charles, despite his pleasant smile and kind green eyes, did not buy into that explanation at all.
Adair doesn't really care as long as his mission won't be affected.
In the following days, Adair stays close to the marketplace. It's always bustling with activity, a great place to acquire information.
Adair doesn't exactly fit in, but he isn't entirely an anomaly either. The people in this world know the language of fighting, and to that Adair is no stranger. When a group of thugs gang up on him at night, cornering him in the backstreet, thinking him to be an easy target, Adair proves them completely and utterly wrong. At first, they laugh at him, taunting him with words like, "wannabe hero," "go play dress-up with your dolls," and such.
They don't laugh for long.
(They really need some lessons on how to gang up on someone properly. Truly, they have nothing on the Sun Knight Platoon.)
As compensation for the lesson Adair kindly taught them, Adair takes their clothes and money. It solves several of his problems and helps him fit in much better.
From the fight, Adair learns that many people have modified their bodies to improve their fighting capabilities, but their enhancements are nothing special in Adair's eyes. After all, he has seen more impressive feats from the Twelve Holy Knights. Thus, Adair doesn't spend much time thinking about the enhancements.
Instead, he pays more attention to the moving pictures he sees around him. They're practically everywhere, displayed in shops and the like. In these moving pictures, the people featured are not actually there. Adair watches as people flit around inside the pictures. Sometimes, the pictures seem to show make believe stories. Sometimes, the pictures seem to act like the newspapers of his world, giving people information about things.
Through these moving pictures, Adair learns of the existence of "heroes" who protect the city from harm. The Noblewoman, Solitary Butterfly, a lady who wields dual guns, protects the north. (He makes notes of what guns look like as the news zooms in on Solitary Butterfly's hands.) The Aristocrat, First Wind, a man who wears a white suit and wields energy whips, protects the west. The Beast, Dragon Peace, a man slash beast who seems to only show up at night, protects the south. The Grim Reaper, a man who wields a scythe, protects the east. Whenever a situation arises, one of the heroes appear sooner or later to deal with it. The moving pictures follow them, treating them like celebrities. Adair already knows, however, that it isn't possible for these four heroes to protect the entire city. Adair's experiences from his short stay already attest to that. If he weren't a holy knight, he would not have walked away unscathed from being surrounded by thugs. And yet, no heroes showed up to "save" him.
Still, Adair thinks that these heroes perhaps serve a similar function to the Twelve Holy Knights back in his world. They exist to protect the citizens and to give them hope. Whether or not they can personally protect each and every citizen is an entirely different matter. They inspire faith just by existing.
Adair watches in fascination. The heroes even wear masks, just like the twelve, except these masks are actual, physical masks. At least these heroes have the chance to take off their masks, to have some separation between duty and self, unlike his knight-captains.
He is content to stay on the sidelines -- the heroes have little to do with his mission -- until he hears, through a little box that can speak and sing, the name of the fourth hero, the name of the Grim Reaper -- Dark Sun.
Immediately upon hearing the name, Adair's heart starts beating wildly. He can't help hoping. He wants to believe.
Even if he will be greeted by dark hair and wild laughter, dark eyes that don't recognize him, Adair wants to believe.
It's better than not finding him at all.
Adair decides to acquire a mask. He puts his sun knight uniform back on. It will make a suitable hero outfit. He really must thank the thugs for giving him such an ingenious idea.
to be continued
If you haven't figured it out, this first crossover canon is No Hero! It is another light novel series by Yu Wo, spanning 9 volumes. Not much of it has been translated to English yet. I will try to keep plot-related spoilers to a minimum.
Next part
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 1,177
Summary: Finding the way back home isn't going to be an easy task, and returning with all of the missing knight-captains will be even harder, but Adair will accept no other outcome, no matter what universe he must travel through to locate them all. A series of snapshots.
Notes: I thought this would be a short and quick fic, but I think this will actually take more than 26 parts. I'm still aiming to make them short snapshots though. We'll be spending a different amount of chapters with each universe. Some will take more, some will take less. This first world is going to span several parts! I'll be naming each part from the same canon with a word starting with the same letter. We're in the Bs at the moment.
Previous part
Part 2: Backstreet
He was caught. Right away too.
Adair has no choice but to climb out from beneath the table. He takes a quick glance at his surroundings and mentally goes through the items in his possession. He decides that the leaf bracelet is his safest bet as an excuse. It's not a great excuse, but Adair has never needed his excuses to be great. It's the way he delivers them that really matters. He is pretty sure he can make anything sound sincere.
"My apologies, I was looking for my bracelet," he says and lifts his arm to show the bracelet to the man who caught him. He fiddles with it, pretending that he has just put the bracelet back on his wrist. As Adair speaks, he catalogs all he sees around him and immediately realizes that he is not going to have an easy time in this foreign world.
The man before him, unlike the rest of the people about the marketplace, is wearing a long coat on top of a black vest and black dress pants. He is also wearing a hat, and from beneath that hat trails a long ponytail. Like his clothes, his hair is black. He would have fit in nicely with the Judgment Knight Platoon with his monochrome palette. The only bit of color on him is the red, fluttering piece of cloth he has around his neck and his red hair tie. His attire makes him stand out like a sore thumb, as he is pretty much covered from head to toe despite the weather not calling for such a way of dressing.
Adair is pretty sure, however, that the man isn't sticking out as much as Adair currently is in his sun knight uniform, blinding white embroidered with gold, complete with white gloves and boots, two swords by his waist. He hears a whisper of, "Is that man cosplaying?" but the words make little sense to Adair.
"Charles is glad you have found your lost item," the man says with a pleasant smile on his face, making no comment about Adair's clothes and swords, as if Adair isn't completely sticking out.
Adair gives him a nod. He also apologizes to the merchant whose table he was under. The merchant is the one who eyes Adair's two swords in distrust.
"Swords, huh? Youngsters nowadays rarely choose swords. It's all guns and stuff. Don't tell me you're playing at being a hero?"
"I prefer swords," Adair fibs. He hasn't the faintest clue what a gun is to have any sort of preference between swords and guns, and he doesn't have enough information to make a call on the "hero" comment, so he opts to leave that part of the question unanswered.
"You're in the minority then," the merchant replies.
"Ah, I am indeed. I like being traditional," Adair ventures to say.
"I guess that explains your clothes!" the merchant laughs.
Adair smiles, glad that the merchant seemed to buy his explanation.
However, he is pretty sure the man called Charles, despite his pleasant smile and kind green eyes, did not buy into that explanation at all.
Adair doesn't really care as long as his mission won't be affected.
In the following days, Adair stays close to the marketplace. It's always bustling with activity, a great place to acquire information.
Adair doesn't exactly fit in, but he isn't entirely an anomaly either. The people in this world know the language of fighting, and to that Adair is no stranger. When a group of thugs gang up on him at night, cornering him in the backstreet, thinking him to be an easy target, Adair proves them completely and utterly wrong. At first, they laugh at him, taunting him with words like, "wannabe hero," "go play dress-up with your dolls," and such.
They don't laugh for long.
(They really need some lessons on how to gang up on someone properly. Truly, they have nothing on the Sun Knight Platoon.)
As compensation for the lesson Adair kindly taught them, Adair takes their clothes and money. It solves several of his problems and helps him fit in much better.
From the fight, Adair learns that many people have modified their bodies to improve their fighting capabilities, but their enhancements are nothing special in Adair's eyes. After all, he has seen more impressive feats from the Twelve Holy Knights. Thus, Adair doesn't spend much time thinking about the enhancements.
Instead, he pays more attention to the moving pictures he sees around him. They're practically everywhere, displayed in shops and the like. In these moving pictures, the people featured are not actually there. Adair watches as people flit around inside the pictures. Sometimes, the pictures seem to show make believe stories. Sometimes, the pictures seem to act like the newspapers of his world, giving people information about things.
Through these moving pictures, Adair learns of the existence of "heroes" who protect the city from harm. The Noblewoman, Solitary Butterfly, a lady who wields dual guns, protects the north. (He makes notes of what guns look like as the news zooms in on Solitary Butterfly's hands.) The Aristocrat, First Wind, a man who wears a white suit and wields energy whips, protects the west. The Beast, Dragon Peace, a man slash beast who seems to only show up at night, protects the south. The Grim Reaper, a man who wields a scythe, protects the east. Whenever a situation arises, one of the heroes appear sooner or later to deal with it. The moving pictures follow them, treating them like celebrities. Adair already knows, however, that it isn't possible for these four heroes to protect the entire city. Adair's experiences from his short stay already attest to that. If he weren't a holy knight, he would not have walked away unscathed from being surrounded by thugs. And yet, no heroes showed up to "save" him.
Still, Adair thinks that these heroes perhaps serve a similar function to the Twelve Holy Knights back in his world. They exist to protect the citizens and to give them hope. Whether or not they can personally protect each and every citizen is an entirely different matter. They inspire faith just by existing.
Adair watches in fascination. The heroes even wear masks, just like the twelve, except these masks are actual, physical masks. At least these heroes have the chance to take off their masks, to have some separation between duty and self, unlike his knight-captains.
He is content to stay on the sidelines -- the heroes have little to do with his mission -- until he hears, through a little box that can speak and sing, the name of the fourth hero, the name of the Grim Reaper -- Dark Sun.
Immediately upon hearing the name, Adair's heart starts beating wildly. He can't help hoping. He wants to believe.
Even if he will be greeted by dark hair and wild laughter, dark eyes that don't recognize him, Adair wants to believe.
It's better than not finding him at all.
Adair decides to acquire a mask. He puts his sun knight uniform back on. It will make a suitable hero outfit. He really must thank the thugs for giving him such an ingenious idea.
to be continued
If you haven't figured it out, this first crossover canon is No Hero! It is another light novel series by Yu Wo, spanning 9 volumes. Not much of it has been translated to English yet. I will try to keep plot-related spoilers to a minimum.
Next part