[Legend of Sun Knight] fic: so we can get to know you chapter 3
Title: so we can get to know you - chapter 3: L.o there, i'm roland hell. why hello, i'm roland hell. hello...
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 2,011
Summary: The Twelve Holy Knights go on their biannual mission outside of Leaf Bud City. They just never thought that some of them would return as toddlers. Roland introduces himself over and over again. "Isn't this great, Roland? We'll get to learn about you and make up for all those years we missed!"
Notes: This fic might turn into my weekly "I'm still alive!" post... XD;;
previous chapter: O.nly if we knew what was going on
chapter 3: L.o there, i'm roland hell. why hello, i'm roland hell. hello...
It happened again, this time right before my eyes, two days after our return from the forest. We had not managed to accomplish our mission, but we would not be able to head back until we figured out what had caused four of the Twelve Holy Knights to shrink and whether or not it would happen again.
Sun and Judgment had gone off to discuss the matter with the Pope. Meanwhile, I straightened the papers in my hands and knocked on Storm's door.
"Storm, I've finished correcting the documents," I said after Storm's door opened and a head of blue peeked out.
"Oh, thanks!" Storm replied with a wide smile. His eye bags were getting worse again after our return, no doubt because of all the piled up work from our absence. Just as I was about to hand the papers over to Storm, he began... shrinking.
I watched with wide eyes as he grew shorter and shorter. For a fleeting second, I wondered if he would shrink so much that I would actually learn his true hair color. He'd once told me that he didn't really remember what his original hair color was, only that it was indistinct. I'd told him that it probably wasn't as indistinct as he thought. How could anything about Storm be indistinct? He was one of the liveliest people I knew, always attracting the attention of those around him.
He stopped shrinking once he shrank to the level of my chest, his hair as blue as ever but much much shorter. I was a little disappointed not to discover his original hair color, but then green eyes blinked and stared curiously up at me, and I forgot all about his hair color.
This was Storm before he even knew of my existence.
"Hello," I greeted softly, lowering my mask, not wanting to startle him. From Metal's previous reaction, I could deduce that children would only think me weird the way I dressed. Showing my face would hopefully lessen that effect a bit. "I'm Roland Hell."
"Knight-Captain Hell?" Storm asked. He looked me up and down quite shyly. "Are you back from your mission? Teacher said you're on a very very long mission."
How am I to explain that I'm not the 37th Hell Knight but rather Storm's Hell Knight?
I fixed my mask back in place and pondered my dilemma.
I never thought I would ever get to see Storm and the others as children. I had not grown up alongside them and had only met them once we were all adults. Sun was the only one who I had spent any time with as a child, but even then, it had not been a lengthy period of time.
So this was what Storm had been like as a child. I watched him pick at his shirt in confusion, no doubt wondering why it was so large. His face was a little rounder, his eyes not darkened by eye bags.
Will I see the others shrink at one point as well?
It was an inconvenience for all of us, but part of me was... somewhat looking forward to it.
"Let's go find Grisia," I suggested, not sure how to explain things. I would have suggested Lesus instead, but I wasn't sure if this Storm knew him yet. I did hope that I would find both together. "He can explain things to you."
Only by seeing his fellow holy knights all grown up would Storm be able to figure out the situation and that I wasn't the Hell Knight he thought I was.
Storm looked around. He was currently standing before the door of his room, the Storm Knight's. It was not the room he'd had as the Storm Knight-in-training, so no doubt he was wondering why he was here and why his teacher was nowhere to be found.
I knocked on Sun's door, but he was not in his room. Likely, he had already left. I nodded my head at the corridor, indicating for Storm to follow me. Follow me he did. I kept my strides short so that he would be able to keep up, but after a bit of walking, I suddenly found small hands grabbing at the scales protecting my waist. There really wasn't material on me loose enough for anyone to grab.
Turning slightly, I held my hand out. Storm lowered his head, cheeks pink, but he grabbed my hand anyway. Looking up, I saw that there were a few female clerics walking about.
"Come along," I said, walking just a bit faster so that less people would see Storm. "Grisia should be in the Pope's study at the moment."
Once we entered the Pope's study, I saw that both Sun and Judgment were indeed present. However, Judgment was... in the same state as Storm.
He sat across from Sun with narrowed eyes, hands folded protectively across his chest. His hair was longer than usual, coming down to his shoulders. Immediately, I was certain that this Judgment had yet to decide to become the Judgment Knight. He was probably between ten to twelve years old. There was absolutely no way he would hold Sun in such disregard otherwise.
Sun turned, face lighting up. "Roland! Just in time! Come and explain..."
He halted in the middle of the sentence, his voice turning stilted. "Who are you pulling along?"
"Storm," I replied. It was a given, but perhaps even Sun had a difficult time spotting him since he was hiding behind my back. I stepped to the side and urged Storm forward. He shuffled forward, eyes darting cautiously at Sun, Judgment, and the Pope. Storm had truly changed greatly since his current age, growing much more confident in himself. The Storm who had welcomed me to the Holy Temple had an abundance of confidence. Even Sun wouldn't dare to cross him lightly.
He was truly admirable to have grown so much as a person. I, on the other hand, had always been stagnant and would now remain stagnant forever.
Sun groaned and sank into his chair, like he didn't want to face all of this. "First Judgment, now Storm? Don't tell me there are other midgets running around that I don't know of!"
I lifted my shoulders helplessly. I was just as clueless as he was.
"You don't like children?" I asked. He had seemed fine with Elaro and Ludia.
"I don't like children who accuse me of not being the Sun Knight!" Sun complained.
Judgment did that?
No wonder Sun was feeling such irritation, and they were having a staring contest when I walked in, though surely Sun would win all such contests easily without the need to blink. To have his confidant forget him entirely, shrunk to an age where he no longer trusted Sun must not feel all that great.
Waving his hand, Sun ushered me to sit next to Judgment and "take care of the two brats" while he talked the situation over with the Pope. I thought he probably just wanted to dump the explanations on me. I pulled Storm along to sit next to Judgment. Dark eyes flicked up.
"Hello," I greeted Judgment, once more repeating my introduction. "I'm Roland Hell."
It seemed more and more likely that I would be repeating this line over and over again, but I didn't mind.
"Good afternoon, sir," Judgment said and bowed his head.
I frowned. "No need to be so formal. You're actually my superior."
Judgment looked between me and Sun. I surmised that Sun had tried to explain things only for Judgment not to believe him. He probably had not believed the Pope either, given the Pope's appearance. He gazed at my face and asked, "Am I really the Judgment Knight?"
I nodded.
Perhaps he finally accepted that he was the Judgment Knight after being told by three different people, or perhaps he sensed honesty in me. Now it was Judgment's turn to frown. "So he wasn't lying to me? He really is the 38th Sun Knight, and I'm the 38th Judgment Knight? But why would I want to become the Judgment Knight?"
His voice was soft. It was not a question for me, but I still thought it over.
Why indeed had Lesus decided to become the Judgment Knight? This I did not know. Why had any of us decided to become one of the Twelve Holy Knights? Former Knight-Captain Sun had asked me a long, long time ago why I had wanted to be the Sun Knight.
I'd answered that I wanted to punish all evil-doers. That I would lay down my life to accomplish this goal. How laugh worthy such a goal was, when in later years, I became that very evil-doer who slayed the Sun Knight yet was still forgiven.
Sun, you are truly too kind to me.
My answer had not been what Former Knight-Captain Sun was looking for.
If I were asked again, what would my answer be?
Would it be different?
I looked over at Sun, who was busy arguing with the Pope, and then looked back at Judgment whose clothes were quite loose on him. Both Judgment and Storm were so very young, yet they already had traces of the men I would come to know.
I was glad.
Very glad to have met them all.
"What's going on?" Storm asked. "Did you lose your memories, Lesus? Wait, you look a little younger..." He glanced over at Sun. "I've been wondering this, but is that... Grisia?"
"Both of you deaged," I explained. "You were adults just an hour ago."
"Oh," was all Storm managed to say, eyes wide. He looked at Grisia again. Then, he looked up at me in confusion. "So you're not Teacher Hell?"
Shaking my head, I said, "I'm around the same age as the two of you when you're not deaged. We are of the same generation, the 38th generation."
When the Pope called me over, I left the two of them sitting together. They would have a lot to digest. It must not be easy, suddenly greeted by a world that was completely different from what they knew. Judgment began talking with Storm, who exclaimed, "Ehhh? You don't know me? I guess I'm not... memorable..."
No Storm, he just hasn't even met you yet!
"Have you figured anything out?" I asked the Pope.
The Pope nodded. "I have most of it figured out, but Sun's memories of what happened in the forest are not the most reliable. Can you fill me in about what you saw?"
I told him what I knew.
"Hm, yes, it's like what I've surmised. The dust is what caused them to deage," concluded the Pope.
"The dust?" I asked.
Both Sun and I had been covered by dust from the explosion too. Does that mean we will deage at one point as well?
"From what Judgment told me before he shrank, there was a large tree that was hit by the dark element that Sun shot down. This tree exploded into dust that settled on all of you," explained the Pope.
"What kind of crazy dust would shrink people?" asked Sun.
"Pixie dust," answered the Pope with a shrug.
"Are you kidding me?" Sun shouted.
Both Judgment and Storm raised their heads to stare at Sun.
The Pope chided, "Sun, your elegance! You're scaring the youngsters. And no, I'm not kidding you. I know very well what pixie dust does."
Sun raised an eyebrow.
The Pope coughed, as if wanting to change the topic, and said, "More importantly, about the Twelve Holy Knights shrinking, it's likely that at one point, all of you will shrink at least once. But don't think you will only shrink once. It will likely happen many times."
"What?" Sun yelled. Both Judgment and Storm tried not to appear like they were staring at Sun, but they didn't really succeed. Sun ignored them. "Explain."
"Each time it happens, the duration might be different as well," continued the Pope. "I advise that you make sure you always have someone with you that can explain the situation."
Sun grumbled, "Like that did any good with Lesus."
"Is there any way to stop it from happening?" I asked.
The Pope shook his head. "The effect should wear off with time."
And how long would that be?
We could not leave the lands of darkness unattended for too long, but meanwhile, it seemed that the Holy Temple would be filled with youngsters in the days to come.
to be continued
The reason why Storm and Judgment shrank at the same time is pretty much because of A Slice of Wedding Cake. =P I thought I'd have the two main pairings from there shrink at the same time because this was a fic for Kiyu. XD;;
As for why the Pope knows all about this pixie dust, it's because he's experimented with it before in his search for youth... I'm sad I wasn't quite able to work that into the fic. XD;
next chapter: A.nd then came the memories
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 2,011
Summary: The Twelve Holy Knights go on their biannual mission outside of Leaf Bud City. They just never thought that some of them would return as toddlers. Roland introduces himself over and over again. "Isn't this great, Roland? We'll get to learn about you and make up for all those years we missed!"
Notes: This fic might turn into my weekly "I'm still alive!" post... XD;;
previous chapter: O.nly if we knew what was going on
chapter 3: L.o there, i'm roland hell. why hello, i'm roland hell. hello...
It happened again, this time right before my eyes, two days after our return from the forest. We had not managed to accomplish our mission, but we would not be able to head back until we figured out what had caused four of the Twelve Holy Knights to shrink and whether or not it would happen again.
Sun and Judgment had gone off to discuss the matter with the Pope. Meanwhile, I straightened the papers in my hands and knocked on Storm's door.
"Storm, I've finished correcting the documents," I said after Storm's door opened and a head of blue peeked out.
"Oh, thanks!" Storm replied with a wide smile. His eye bags were getting worse again after our return, no doubt because of all the piled up work from our absence. Just as I was about to hand the papers over to Storm, he began... shrinking.
I watched with wide eyes as he grew shorter and shorter. For a fleeting second, I wondered if he would shrink so much that I would actually learn his true hair color. He'd once told me that he didn't really remember what his original hair color was, only that it was indistinct. I'd told him that it probably wasn't as indistinct as he thought. How could anything about Storm be indistinct? He was one of the liveliest people I knew, always attracting the attention of those around him.
He stopped shrinking once he shrank to the level of my chest, his hair as blue as ever but much much shorter. I was a little disappointed not to discover his original hair color, but then green eyes blinked and stared curiously up at me, and I forgot all about his hair color.
This was Storm before he even knew of my existence.
"Hello," I greeted softly, lowering my mask, not wanting to startle him. From Metal's previous reaction, I could deduce that children would only think me weird the way I dressed. Showing my face would hopefully lessen that effect a bit. "I'm Roland Hell."
"Knight-Captain Hell?" Storm asked. He looked me up and down quite shyly. "Are you back from your mission? Teacher said you're on a very very long mission."
How am I to explain that I'm not the 37th Hell Knight but rather Storm's Hell Knight?
I fixed my mask back in place and pondered my dilemma.
I never thought I would ever get to see Storm and the others as children. I had not grown up alongside them and had only met them once we were all adults. Sun was the only one who I had spent any time with as a child, but even then, it had not been a lengthy period of time.
So this was what Storm had been like as a child. I watched him pick at his shirt in confusion, no doubt wondering why it was so large. His face was a little rounder, his eyes not darkened by eye bags.
Will I see the others shrink at one point as well?
It was an inconvenience for all of us, but part of me was... somewhat looking forward to it.
"Let's go find Grisia," I suggested, not sure how to explain things. I would have suggested Lesus instead, but I wasn't sure if this Storm knew him yet. I did hope that I would find both together. "He can explain things to you."
Only by seeing his fellow holy knights all grown up would Storm be able to figure out the situation and that I wasn't the Hell Knight he thought I was.
Storm looked around. He was currently standing before the door of his room, the Storm Knight's. It was not the room he'd had as the Storm Knight-in-training, so no doubt he was wondering why he was here and why his teacher was nowhere to be found.
I knocked on Sun's door, but he was not in his room. Likely, he had already left. I nodded my head at the corridor, indicating for Storm to follow me. Follow me he did. I kept my strides short so that he would be able to keep up, but after a bit of walking, I suddenly found small hands grabbing at the scales protecting my waist. There really wasn't material on me loose enough for anyone to grab.
Turning slightly, I held my hand out. Storm lowered his head, cheeks pink, but he grabbed my hand anyway. Looking up, I saw that there were a few female clerics walking about.
"Come along," I said, walking just a bit faster so that less people would see Storm. "Grisia should be in the Pope's study at the moment."
Once we entered the Pope's study, I saw that both Sun and Judgment were indeed present. However, Judgment was... in the same state as Storm.
He sat across from Sun with narrowed eyes, hands folded protectively across his chest. His hair was longer than usual, coming down to his shoulders. Immediately, I was certain that this Judgment had yet to decide to become the Judgment Knight. He was probably between ten to twelve years old. There was absolutely no way he would hold Sun in such disregard otherwise.
Sun turned, face lighting up. "Roland! Just in time! Come and explain..."
He halted in the middle of the sentence, his voice turning stilted. "Who are you pulling along?"
"Storm," I replied. It was a given, but perhaps even Sun had a difficult time spotting him since he was hiding behind my back. I stepped to the side and urged Storm forward. He shuffled forward, eyes darting cautiously at Sun, Judgment, and the Pope. Storm had truly changed greatly since his current age, growing much more confident in himself. The Storm who had welcomed me to the Holy Temple had an abundance of confidence. Even Sun wouldn't dare to cross him lightly.
He was truly admirable to have grown so much as a person. I, on the other hand, had always been stagnant and would now remain stagnant forever.
Sun groaned and sank into his chair, like he didn't want to face all of this. "First Judgment, now Storm? Don't tell me there are other midgets running around that I don't know of!"
I lifted my shoulders helplessly. I was just as clueless as he was.
"You don't like children?" I asked. He had seemed fine with Elaro and Ludia.
"I don't like children who accuse me of not being the Sun Knight!" Sun complained.
Judgment did that?
No wonder Sun was feeling such irritation, and they were having a staring contest when I walked in, though surely Sun would win all such contests easily without the need to blink. To have his confidant forget him entirely, shrunk to an age where he no longer trusted Sun must not feel all that great.
Waving his hand, Sun ushered me to sit next to Judgment and "take care of the two brats" while he talked the situation over with the Pope. I thought he probably just wanted to dump the explanations on me. I pulled Storm along to sit next to Judgment. Dark eyes flicked up.
"Hello," I greeted Judgment, once more repeating my introduction. "I'm Roland Hell."
It seemed more and more likely that I would be repeating this line over and over again, but I didn't mind.
"Good afternoon, sir," Judgment said and bowed his head.
I frowned. "No need to be so formal. You're actually my superior."
Judgment looked between me and Sun. I surmised that Sun had tried to explain things only for Judgment not to believe him. He probably had not believed the Pope either, given the Pope's appearance. He gazed at my face and asked, "Am I really the Judgment Knight?"
I nodded.
Perhaps he finally accepted that he was the Judgment Knight after being told by three different people, or perhaps he sensed honesty in me. Now it was Judgment's turn to frown. "So he wasn't lying to me? He really is the 38th Sun Knight, and I'm the 38th Judgment Knight? But why would I want to become the Judgment Knight?"
His voice was soft. It was not a question for me, but I still thought it over.
Why indeed had Lesus decided to become the Judgment Knight? This I did not know. Why had any of us decided to become one of the Twelve Holy Knights? Former Knight-Captain Sun had asked me a long, long time ago why I had wanted to be the Sun Knight.
I'd answered that I wanted to punish all evil-doers. That I would lay down my life to accomplish this goal. How laugh worthy such a goal was, when in later years, I became that very evil-doer who slayed the Sun Knight yet was still forgiven.
Sun, you are truly too kind to me.
My answer had not been what Former Knight-Captain Sun was looking for.
If I were asked again, what would my answer be?
Would it be different?
I looked over at Sun, who was busy arguing with the Pope, and then looked back at Judgment whose clothes were quite loose on him. Both Judgment and Storm were so very young, yet they already had traces of the men I would come to know.
I was glad.
Very glad to have met them all.
"What's going on?" Storm asked. "Did you lose your memories, Lesus? Wait, you look a little younger..." He glanced over at Sun. "I've been wondering this, but is that... Grisia?"
"Both of you deaged," I explained. "You were adults just an hour ago."
"Oh," was all Storm managed to say, eyes wide. He looked at Grisia again. Then, he looked up at me in confusion. "So you're not Teacher Hell?"
Shaking my head, I said, "I'm around the same age as the two of you when you're not deaged. We are of the same generation, the 38th generation."
When the Pope called me over, I left the two of them sitting together. They would have a lot to digest. It must not be easy, suddenly greeted by a world that was completely different from what they knew. Judgment began talking with Storm, who exclaimed, "Ehhh? You don't know me? I guess I'm not... memorable..."
No Storm, he just hasn't even met you yet!
"Have you figured anything out?" I asked the Pope.
The Pope nodded. "I have most of it figured out, but Sun's memories of what happened in the forest are not the most reliable. Can you fill me in about what you saw?"
I told him what I knew.
"Hm, yes, it's like what I've surmised. The dust is what caused them to deage," concluded the Pope.
"The dust?" I asked.
Both Sun and I had been covered by dust from the explosion too. Does that mean we will deage at one point as well?
"From what Judgment told me before he shrank, there was a large tree that was hit by the dark element that Sun shot down. This tree exploded into dust that settled on all of you," explained the Pope.
"What kind of crazy dust would shrink people?" asked Sun.
"Pixie dust," answered the Pope with a shrug.
"Are you kidding me?" Sun shouted.
Both Judgment and Storm raised their heads to stare at Sun.
The Pope chided, "Sun, your elegance! You're scaring the youngsters. And no, I'm not kidding you. I know very well what pixie dust does."
Sun raised an eyebrow.
The Pope coughed, as if wanting to change the topic, and said, "More importantly, about the Twelve Holy Knights shrinking, it's likely that at one point, all of you will shrink at least once. But don't think you will only shrink once. It will likely happen many times."
"What?" Sun yelled. Both Judgment and Storm tried not to appear like they were staring at Sun, but they didn't really succeed. Sun ignored them. "Explain."
"Each time it happens, the duration might be different as well," continued the Pope. "I advise that you make sure you always have someone with you that can explain the situation."
Sun grumbled, "Like that did any good with Lesus."
"Is there any way to stop it from happening?" I asked.
The Pope shook his head. "The effect should wear off with time."
And how long would that be?
We could not leave the lands of darkness unattended for too long, but meanwhile, it seemed that the Holy Temple would be filled with youngsters in the days to come.
to be continued
The reason why Storm and Judgment shrank at the same time is pretty much because of A Slice of Wedding Cake. =P I thought I'd have the two main pairings from there shrink at the same time because this was a fic for Kiyu. XD;;
As for why the Pope knows all about this pixie dust, it's because he's experimented with it before in his search for youth... I'm sad I wasn't quite able to work that into the fic. XD;
next chapter: A.nd then came the memories