[Legend of Sun Knight] fic: so we can get to know you chapter 9
Title: so we can get to know you - chapter 9: L.ook, i don't think i'm a tree...?
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 1,691
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 is mostly the same as the version on AO3, except the ending scene has been edited a bit! This chapter is around 200 words longer than the original. :3;;
previous chapter: E.h no, there will be no potato stew tonight
chapter 9: L.ook, i don't think i'm a tree...?
After the kidnapping incident, several more of the others shrank at different times. I started off each day wondering if I would be next and what I would remember. When Storm shrank once again and stayed a child for nearly a week, we all went crazy not knowing what to do with all the accumulated paperwork. It had piled up so much that there were stacks after stacks of paperwork lining the walls outside of Storm's door. Then, one day, Leaf frowned, went through the stacks, and began returning them to the owners.
"Storm is just a child! You shouldn't be piling your responsibility on him!" Leaf berated.
Although Leaf and I tried to work through what remained of Storm's paperwork after we returned the stacks in the hallway, without Storm's presence, the paperwork just seemed like it wasn't lessening at all despite the amount we were going through. When Storm finally returned to his adult self, nearly all of us wanted to cry in happiness. Storm, on the other hand, cried tears of sorrow at seeing the state of his bedroom. I had tried to make sure his bed would not be buried by papers, but I had not succeeded.
Another time, Judgment and Sun deaged at the same time. Moon could not stop stalking them during this time, declaring them to be "adorable." They truly were quite cute. Who knew Judgment was shy at the age of five, while Sun was already quite a leader at the age of four? He seemed to want to stick his nose in everything, and he pulled Judgment right along with him. His favorite past time was begging sweets off of Ice. Sun would bring Judgment with him, and they would stare up at Ice with large, shining eyes...
It was clear that the effect of the dust had not yet worn off. No one around me knew when they would suddenly revert back to a teenager or child; however, I was starting to have an inkling about myself.
"The dust doesn't affect me, does it?" I asked the Pope one day while holding the hand of a young Leaf. He was around five years old.
The Pope placed his teacup down. "What do you remember of the dust from that day in the forest?"
I tried to remember the forest. It felt so long ago. Grisia and I had been battling in midair when he tried to blast me. The blast of dark element had hit the forest instead, and both of us had been covered in dust. When I flew downwards to check on everyone's conditions, the dust had trickled away from me...
"It never stayed on my skin," I finally said.
The Pope nodded. "That makes sense. Although the dust brings back youth, it cannot bring back life. Normally, the dust seeps into the skin, but in your case, it didn't."
Because I am an undead creature.
It seemed that I would not recall those memories after all. Here was yet another way I was different from everyone else.
As I helped Storm correct his paperwork that evening, I could not stop thinking about how the dust didn't affect me. I watched young Leaf take one of the pieces of papers that Storm had discarded to fold. He was quite deft with his hands. With a few folds, he'd formed a box. Then, he took another piece of paper and started folding other things, like mini swords and mini people that he put in the box.
While we corrected, Blaze kicked open the door, and in followed Sun and Earth behind him.
"Hey, mind if we crashed the party?" Blaze asked.
Storm lifted his eyebrow.
Blaze scratched his head. "I never really made up for the time when I accidentally drew all over your paperwork..."
"Be my guest," Storm said with a wave. "Lots of paperwork to correct. Not draw on. But I don't at all believe that Sun is here to help."
"Hey!" protested Sun. Storm shot him a look.
Earth rolled his eyes. "You're right as always, Storm. Blaze just dragged us along, and you know we're not supposed to go anywhere without having at least two other people with us."
Following Blaze and his plus two came Judgment, who brought along Ice and Stone. Judgment explained that he wanted to check up on Storm since we had left him too much paperwork. Then came Moon, Cloud, and Metal. I didn't know why they had come, but when they saw Leaf, they immediately joined him in folding papers. In the end, only Judgment, Blaze, and I were doing paperwork with Storm while everyone else was playing.
"Heh, this really is like a party now!" Blaze declared with a grin. "We're all here!"
He scribbled a huge red X on the paperwork. I frowned. What if Blaze isn't correcting it correctly?
As I looked over the papers that Blaze had corrected, someone shouted. I looked up and saw that Blaze had shrunk, leaving us one helper less. But perhaps it was a good thing, as I was not sure these documents Blaze corrected would pass inspection.
I was about to teleport Blaze to find him some new clothes when Judgment shrank after him. I picked Blaze up, who squealed, "Roland!" and swung him over my shoulder. He probably remembered me from one of his previous times shrinking. Then, I grabbed Judgment's hand. However, before I could leave, Metal shrank as well. I grabbed him with my other hand.
But it seemed I would not be able to leave successfully. Cloud shrank after Metal, so I tossed Metal over my other shoulder and picked Cloud up, telling him to hold onto me from the back. Then, Stone shrank. I had him hold my elbow. Following him, Sun shrank. I had him hold my other elbow. But then Moon, Earth, and Ice shrank as well. They saw me covered in children. Moon giggled and grabbed my remaining hand. With no other choice, Earth and Ice each grabbed a leg.
What am I, a climbing tree...?
I looked at Storm, wondering if he was next. He blinked at me but didn't shrink. Perhaps we were being pitied, as if Storm were to shrink again, the Holy Temple would truly have to cease functioning until we could get the paperwork straightened out.
"I'll be back!" I finally said. Then, I teleported us all to the dressing room so that they could get properly clothed. After that, teleporting back to Storm's room was another ordeal, as several of them wanted to hold my hand or climb onto my back.
When we returned, Storm looked at me from across the table.
"That was sudden," he said.
"It was," I agreed. "At least they were all here in your room. I didn't have to go around the Holy Temple trying to find them. It made things a lot easier... though I wonder why they were all here in the first place?"
"I wonder," Storm said with a smile, tapping his quill against his cheek.
I glanced around the room at our companions who had all shrunk to various ages. This time, they were all fairly young. Several of them piled onto Leaf, wanting to see what he was doing. I smiled at the sight, but I quickly turned my attention back to the task at hand, which was helping Storm with the paperwork. We still had a lot to do.
As we corrected paper after paper, I realized that out of everyone who was here, only Judgment and Blaze had been helping out before they shrank, yet Storm had not kicked everyone else out. Something didn't add up. Now that they had shrunk, there was only Storm and me left. We could have foisted some of the kids onto their vice-captains, but Storm hadn't made any such suggestion. Normally, Storm wasn't quite so lenient with having people in his room, especially people who weren't helping.
"Storm, is something going on?" I finally asked.
He glanced up at me with amused green eyes. "Caught on, huh? It's nothing much. They just all wanted to check up on you."
"Why?" I asked, confused.
Storm wrote a bit more before placing his quill down, giving me his full attention. "We kind of figured out you weren't shrinking. Were we... right?"
"Yes, the Pope confirmed it, but..."
I paused when I saw Storm gesture at our companions, gazing at them fondly. Some were crawling. Some were chasing each other around. Stone even flopped over my feet. I tried moving my left foot, but he wouldn't budge. "Like I said, they wanted to check up on you. Actually, I should say, we all wanted to check up on you."
He stopped for a moment to collect his thoughts. Then, he looked back at me. "Roland, you were hoping to experience the same thing as us, weren't you?"
"I..."
I... Yes.
I had wanted to experience the same thing as them. I had wanted to be a child again, to take back my past. I had wanted to understand myself, to figure out who I truly am.
How had they known?
Storm scratched his face. "I didn't think they would all shrink at the same time though..."
"Oh," was all I could say. A strange feeling had blossomed in my chest.
"Who am I to stop them?" Storm shrugged. "Though please make sure the kiddies don't destroy any of the documents."
Blinking, I pulled Sun off of a tower of papers. It was a miracle he hadn't knocked it over.
"Roland!" Sun exclaimed from midair, dangling from my hand. "Play with me?"
At the same time, Leaf pulled on my shirt. "Roland, for you!"
He gave me the box he had folded and looked at me expectantly. Sun stopped pulling on my sleeve long enough to turn eager eyes on me. In fact, even Stone, who was still lying across my feet, was gazing at me expectantly. When I looked around, I found that Judgment, Earth, Moon, Metal, Cloud, Blaze, and Ice had all stopped playing to stare up at me with large, expectant eyes. Across the table, Storm had on a lopsided smile.
"Go on," he urged.
I looked down. There were twelve little paper men in the paper box, complete with paper weapons. I held up the one with wings.
A smile slowly came over my face.
I was wrong.
So, so wrong.
I definitely wasn't empty, not when I had so much to treasure.
to be continued
Because I envisioned this entire fic as a long oneshot, each of these chapters were meant to be scenes. The climax was Roland realizing that he doesn't shrink and everyone coming to keep him company. I wish I had actually been able to write out more scenes between chapters 8 and 9 to make the realization feel less abrupt! I'd wanted it to be a slow realization! But both time and the structure of the fic were working against me, so this was the end result.
I thought I might be able to go back and write out some more scenes of the others shrinking, but nope, didn't happen. I'd reached the point I was trying to get across with the fic, so... XD;
Look forward to the conclusion next week!
(The reason why Storm didn't shrink while everyone else did... was because I had hoped I'd be able to show Ceo and Roland taking care of everyone more like a married couple but that didn't quite work out, haha)
next chapter: L.ive, i shall, as roland hell
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 1,691
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 is mostly the same as the version on AO3, except the ending scene has been edited a bit! This chapter is around 200 words longer than the original. :3;;
previous chapter: E.h no, there will be no potato stew tonight
chapter 9: L.ook, i don't think i'm a tree...?
After the kidnapping incident, several more of the others shrank at different times. I started off each day wondering if I would be next and what I would remember. When Storm shrank once again and stayed a child for nearly a week, we all went crazy not knowing what to do with all the accumulated paperwork. It had piled up so much that there were stacks after stacks of paperwork lining the walls outside of Storm's door. Then, one day, Leaf frowned, went through the stacks, and began returning them to the owners.
"Storm is just a child! You shouldn't be piling your responsibility on him!" Leaf berated.
Although Leaf and I tried to work through what remained of Storm's paperwork after we returned the stacks in the hallway, without Storm's presence, the paperwork just seemed like it wasn't lessening at all despite the amount we were going through. When Storm finally returned to his adult self, nearly all of us wanted to cry in happiness. Storm, on the other hand, cried tears of sorrow at seeing the state of his bedroom. I had tried to make sure his bed would not be buried by papers, but I had not succeeded.
Another time, Judgment and Sun deaged at the same time. Moon could not stop stalking them during this time, declaring them to be "adorable." They truly were quite cute. Who knew Judgment was shy at the age of five, while Sun was already quite a leader at the age of four? He seemed to want to stick his nose in everything, and he pulled Judgment right along with him. His favorite past time was begging sweets off of Ice. Sun would bring Judgment with him, and they would stare up at Ice with large, shining eyes...
It was clear that the effect of the dust had not yet worn off. No one around me knew when they would suddenly revert back to a teenager or child; however, I was starting to have an inkling about myself.
"The dust doesn't affect me, does it?" I asked the Pope one day while holding the hand of a young Leaf. He was around five years old.
The Pope placed his teacup down. "What do you remember of the dust from that day in the forest?"
I tried to remember the forest. It felt so long ago. Grisia and I had been battling in midair when he tried to blast me. The blast of dark element had hit the forest instead, and both of us had been covered in dust. When I flew downwards to check on everyone's conditions, the dust had trickled away from me...
"It never stayed on my skin," I finally said.
The Pope nodded. "That makes sense. Although the dust brings back youth, it cannot bring back life. Normally, the dust seeps into the skin, but in your case, it didn't."
Because I am an undead creature.
It seemed that I would not recall those memories after all. Here was yet another way I was different from everyone else.
As I helped Storm correct his paperwork that evening, I could not stop thinking about how the dust didn't affect me. I watched young Leaf take one of the pieces of papers that Storm had discarded to fold. He was quite deft with his hands. With a few folds, he'd formed a box. Then, he took another piece of paper and started folding other things, like mini swords and mini people that he put in the box.
While we corrected, Blaze kicked open the door, and in followed Sun and Earth behind him.
"Hey, mind if we crashed the party?" Blaze asked.
Storm lifted his eyebrow.
Blaze scratched his head. "I never really made up for the time when I accidentally drew all over your paperwork..."
"Be my guest," Storm said with a wave. "Lots of paperwork to correct. Not draw on. But I don't at all believe that Sun is here to help."
"Hey!" protested Sun. Storm shot him a look.
Earth rolled his eyes. "You're right as always, Storm. Blaze just dragged us along, and you know we're not supposed to go anywhere without having at least two other people with us."
Following Blaze and his plus two came Judgment, who brought along Ice and Stone. Judgment explained that he wanted to check up on Storm since we had left him too much paperwork. Then came Moon, Cloud, and Metal. I didn't know why they had come, but when they saw Leaf, they immediately joined him in folding papers. In the end, only Judgment, Blaze, and I were doing paperwork with Storm while everyone else was playing.
"Heh, this really is like a party now!" Blaze declared with a grin. "We're all here!"
He scribbled a huge red X on the paperwork. I frowned. What if Blaze isn't correcting it correctly?
As I looked over the papers that Blaze had corrected, someone shouted. I looked up and saw that Blaze had shrunk, leaving us one helper less. But perhaps it was a good thing, as I was not sure these documents Blaze corrected would pass inspection.
I was about to teleport Blaze to find him some new clothes when Judgment shrank after him. I picked Blaze up, who squealed, "Roland!" and swung him over my shoulder. He probably remembered me from one of his previous times shrinking. Then, I grabbed Judgment's hand. However, before I could leave, Metal shrank as well. I grabbed him with my other hand.
But it seemed I would not be able to leave successfully. Cloud shrank after Metal, so I tossed Metal over my other shoulder and picked Cloud up, telling him to hold onto me from the back. Then, Stone shrank. I had him hold my elbow. Following him, Sun shrank. I had him hold my other elbow. But then Moon, Earth, and Ice shrank as well. They saw me covered in children. Moon giggled and grabbed my remaining hand. With no other choice, Earth and Ice each grabbed a leg.
What am I, a climbing tree...?
I looked at Storm, wondering if he was next. He blinked at me but didn't shrink. Perhaps we were being pitied, as if Storm were to shrink again, the Holy Temple would truly have to cease functioning until we could get the paperwork straightened out.
"I'll be back!" I finally said. Then, I teleported us all to the dressing room so that they could get properly clothed. After that, teleporting back to Storm's room was another ordeal, as several of them wanted to hold my hand or climb onto my back.
When we returned, Storm looked at me from across the table.
"That was sudden," he said.
"It was," I agreed. "At least they were all here in your room. I didn't have to go around the Holy Temple trying to find them. It made things a lot easier... though I wonder why they were all here in the first place?"
"I wonder," Storm said with a smile, tapping his quill against his cheek.
I glanced around the room at our companions who had all shrunk to various ages. This time, they were all fairly young. Several of them piled onto Leaf, wanting to see what he was doing. I smiled at the sight, but I quickly turned my attention back to the task at hand, which was helping Storm with the paperwork. We still had a lot to do.
As we corrected paper after paper, I realized that out of everyone who was here, only Judgment and Blaze had been helping out before they shrank, yet Storm had not kicked everyone else out. Something didn't add up. Now that they had shrunk, there was only Storm and me left. We could have foisted some of the kids onto their vice-captains, but Storm hadn't made any such suggestion. Normally, Storm wasn't quite so lenient with having people in his room, especially people who weren't helping.
"Storm, is something going on?" I finally asked.
He glanced up at me with amused green eyes. "Caught on, huh? It's nothing much. They just all wanted to check up on you."
"Why?" I asked, confused.
Storm wrote a bit more before placing his quill down, giving me his full attention. "We kind of figured out you weren't shrinking. Were we... right?"
"Yes, the Pope confirmed it, but..."
I paused when I saw Storm gesture at our companions, gazing at them fondly. Some were crawling. Some were chasing each other around. Stone even flopped over my feet. I tried moving my left foot, but he wouldn't budge. "Like I said, they wanted to check up on you. Actually, I should say, we all wanted to check up on you."
He stopped for a moment to collect his thoughts. Then, he looked back at me. "Roland, you were hoping to experience the same thing as us, weren't you?"
"I..."
I... Yes.
I had wanted to experience the same thing as them. I had wanted to be a child again, to take back my past. I had wanted to understand myself, to figure out who I truly am.
How had they known?
Storm scratched his face. "I didn't think they would all shrink at the same time though..."
"Oh," was all I could say. A strange feeling had blossomed in my chest.
"Who am I to stop them?" Storm shrugged. "Though please make sure the kiddies don't destroy any of the documents."
Blinking, I pulled Sun off of a tower of papers. It was a miracle he hadn't knocked it over.
"Roland!" Sun exclaimed from midair, dangling from my hand. "Play with me?"
At the same time, Leaf pulled on my shirt. "Roland, for you!"
He gave me the box he had folded and looked at me expectantly. Sun stopped pulling on my sleeve long enough to turn eager eyes on me. In fact, even Stone, who was still lying across my feet, was gazing at me expectantly. When I looked around, I found that Judgment, Earth, Moon, Metal, Cloud, Blaze, and Ice had all stopped playing to stare up at me with large, expectant eyes. Across the table, Storm had on a lopsided smile.
"Go on," he urged.
I looked down. There were twelve little paper men in the paper box, complete with paper weapons. I held up the one with wings.
A smile slowly came over my face.
I was wrong.
So, so wrong.
I definitely wasn't empty, not when I had so much to treasure.
to be continued
Because I envisioned this entire fic as a long oneshot, each of these chapters were meant to be scenes. The climax was Roland realizing that he doesn't shrink and everyone coming to keep him company. I wish I had actually been able to write out more scenes between chapters 8 and 9 to make the realization feel less abrupt! I'd wanted it to be a slow realization! But both time and the structure of the fic were working against me, so this was the end result.
I thought I might be able to go back and write out some more scenes of the others shrinking, but nope, didn't happen. I'd reached the point I was trying to get across with the fic, so... XD;
Look forward to the conclusion next week!
(The reason why Storm didn't shrink while everyone else did... was because I had hoped I'd be able to show Ceo and Roland taking care of everyone more like a married couple but that didn't quite work out, haha)
next chapter: L.ive, i shall, as roland hell