His heart is still racing from the adrenalin of a fight when he gets back to camp; his eyes scan his surroundings but fail to come across the familiar silhouette he'd been hoping to see.
He and Haruka seem to notice each other at the same time; Haruka abandons his conversation half way and marches over to Rin. Rin can tell that he must be sore from the way he walks, his stilted movements restricted by more than the chain mail and armour that confines him. Rin himself has a cut running up the side of his cheek and probably a cracked rib or two.
"Where's Makoto?" Rin's voice is low and urgent. His heart drops when Haruka meets his eyes.
"I was hoping that you would know. No one has seen him for hours." Haruka's jaw is taut with worry. "Rei and Seijuurou managed to get information from one of our prisoners - the only reason they have any force to fight with is that the children of two of the biggest clans are being held hostage."
That explains a lot. But it doesn't tell him anything about where Makoto is.
Haruka sees the steel in his eyes and nods once. Then he turns back around, fists clenched, and walks back towards the men he had left moments before.
That's all the permission Rin needs.
He hurries west, the direction that Makoto's platoon had been deployed, and keeps an ear to the ground. Although the battle has been won, there's no telling how many of the enemy's troops had fled and survived when the belated call to retreat had been sounded. His shield feels heavy on his arm after hours of fighting, but Rin keeps his sword steady. He can't afford to die now.
He treks across the abandoned battlefield cautiously, giving each corpse he passes a cursory glance just to make sure that none of them stare back with glassy eyes the same shade of green that he seeks.
The further he travels, the more bodies he finds. Rin has never been squeamish; he's always known that knight's work is far from the glorious picture painted for pages in the capitol, has always known the cost of protecting the kingdom and the blood that must be spilled to maintain order. But the thought that brave, gentle Makoto could be among them makes him feel sick.
Darkness has begun to drown out the light of the sun, when Rin finally stumbles across a splatter of blood on the ground but no body from which it would have come. More specks of red form a trail around to the right, disappearing into the trees where the forest begins.
Rin curses and follows, glad that the spatters are growing bigger and thus easier for him to see, but also queasy with worry as his gut eats away at itself at the implications of this. The splatters turn to smudges, and when Rin ducks to inspect it, he sees that it is not entirely dry.
He's close.
His hands tremble for a moment before he tightens his hold on the grip of his sword.
As he nears a small clearing by a brook, the air is knocked from his chest.
Makoto sits propped against a tree, his helmet and chest plate missing for some reason. There's a long gash up one of his legs, and his hair is matted with blood. Rin can only see one of his eyes, but it's unfocused and slightly bloodshot.
"Fuck."
Makoto squints up, as he hears the oath leave Rin's lips. His eyes go wide, his mouth opens-
"You stay away from him! We won't let you hurt him!"
Three children have scrambled from the bushes behind Makoto's tree and have lined up in front of Makoto, forming a barrier between them. One wears Makoto's helmet, another is swallowed by his chest plate. The third holds Makoto's boot knife in two hands that tremble.
Rin glances over his shoulder once, to check that the coast is clear. Then he sheaths his sword and raises his hands.
"I'm not going to hurt him; I'm a friend of his. And it looks like he's hurt and needs help."
The children look from him to Makoto, eyes full of distrust. They only acquiesce and step aside at Makoto's word.
Rin passes by them swiftly to kneel beside Makoto.
"Shit. Shit. What the hell are you doing here, Makoto, everyone's back at camp all ready."
He tears strips from his tunic as he talks, not caring in the slightest when he has to hack into his family's sigil. He uses each strip to try to bandage the gash in Makoto's leg; it looks deep, and he has no idea how much blood Makoto has lost already.
He tries not to think of the trail he'd used to find them and how pale Makoto looks as he dips a strip of his tunic into the creek and dabs at the wound just above Makoto's left ear.
Makoto's eyes flutter shut at the contact and sighs.
"These children were hostages-"
"Ah, yeah, Haru mentioned them."
"...You need to take them back with you, Rin."
Rin freezes.
"What the fuck do you mean by you."
Makoto reaches forward, wincing in pain as he does, and takes Rin's free hand into his own.
"I'm not going to make it, Rin."
"No."
"Rin-"
"No. You don't get to do this. We'll both take the brats back, Rei can take a look at you - he's the smartest healer in the realm, he'll patch you up good as new. We just have to-"
"Rin. Please. There's more at stake here. You know that."
Rin wants to punch something. Because he does know. And he hates it.
He doesn't even care the children are probably staring at them. Nothing matters except Makoto.
"...I don't want to leave you here."
Rin's voice is small - smaller than it's been for a long time. Makoto's fingers squeeze his weakly. He's struggling to keep his eyes open by this point.
"You won't be," he whispers, and Rin has to duck forwards to be able to hear him. "I'll always be with you. You still have that ring I made you in the forge when we were pages, right?"
Rin chokes on something between a laugh and a sob. "Yes. It's on the chain around my neck, with father's pendant."
Makoto lifts his other hand, and at his prompting, Rin slides the glove off. Then his breath catches. Because on Makoto's baby finger is the Rin's splotchy attempt at a reciprocating ring.
They had only been children at the time.
They're still barely more than children.
Rin tries to blink the tears from his eyes as he leans forward, letting his forehead rest against Makoto's.
"I love you," he says, letting his lips press against Makoto's one final time. He feels the words shaped against his mouth as Makoto whispers it back to him.
And then he's gone.
Rin takes several moments to compose himself, before forcing himself to pull away. He'll have time to mourn later.
Finally he turns to face the children; the children Makoto had given his life to protect. Rin will be damned if he lets that be in vain.
They have a war to end.
--
Happy (belated) White Day! I kind of took the Tragic Historical AU part of your prompt and ran with it; I hope you enjoyed reading it! (though now that I think about it, it's kind of depressing for having been written for White Day, Um. Sorry about that orz) Also, apologies if there are any mistakes! Its unbeta'd, and I should really be asleep already but I wanted it posted before the deadline!
[MakoRin] Historical Medieval AU
He and Haruka seem to notice each other at the same time; Haruka abandons his conversation half way and marches over to Rin. Rin can tell that he must be sore from the way he walks, his stilted movements restricted by more than the chain mail and armour that confines him. Rin himself has a cut running up the side of his cheek and probably a cracked rib or two.
"Where's Makoto?" Rin's voice is low and urgent. His heart drops when Haruka meets his eyes.
"I was hoping that you would know. No one has seen him for hours." Haruka's jaw is taut with worry. "Rei and Seijuurou managed to get information from one of our prisoners - the only reason they have any force to fight with is that the children of two of the biggest clans are being held hostage."
That explains a lot. But it doesn't tell him anything about where Makoto is.
Haruka sees the steel in his eyes and nods once. Then he turns back around, fists clenched, and walks back towards the men he had left moments before.
That's all the permission Rin needs.
He hurries west, the direction that Makoto's platoon had been deployed, and keeps an ear to the ground. Although the battle has been won, there's no telling how many of the enemy's troops had fled and survived when the belated call to retreat had been sounded. His shield feels heavy on his arm after hours of fighting, but Rin keeps his sword steady. He can't afford to die now.
He treks across the abandoned battlefield cautiously, giving each corpse he passes a cursory glance just to make sure that none of them stare back with glassy eyes the same shade of green that he seeks.
The further he travels, the more bodies he finds. Rin has never been squeamish; he's always known that knight's work is far from the glorious picture painted for pages in the capitol, has always known the cost of protecting the kingdom and the blood that must be spilled to maintain order. But the thought that brave, gentle Makoto could be among them makes him feel sick.
Darkness has begun to drown out the light of the sun, when Rin finally stumbles across a splatter of blood on the ground but no body from which it would have come. More specks of red form a trail around to the right, disappearing into the trees where the forest begins.
Rin curses and follows, glad that the spatters are growing bigger and thus easier for him to see, but also queasy with worry as his gut eats away at itself at the implications of this. The splatters turn to smudges, and when Rin ducks to inspect it, he sees that it is not entirely dry.
He's close.
His hands tremble for a moment before he tightens his hold on the grip of his sword.
As he nears a small clearing by a brook, the air is knocked from his chest.
Makoto sits propped against a tree, his helmet and chest plate missing for some reason. There's a long gash up one of his legs, and his hair is matted with blood. Rin can only see one of his eyes, but it's unfocused and slightly bloodshot.
"Fuck."
Makoto squints up, as he hears the oath leave Rin's lips. His eyes go wide, his mouth opens-
"You stay away from him! We won't let you hurt him!"
Three children have scrambled from the bushes behind Makoto's tree and have lined up in front of Makoto, forming a barrier between them. One wears Makoto's helmet, another is swallowed by his chest plate. The third holds Makoto's boot knife in two hands that tremble.
Rin glances over his shoulder once, to check that the coast is clear. Then he sheaths his sword and raises his hands.
"I'm not going to hurt him; I'm a friend of his. And it looks like he's hurt and needs help."
The children look from him to Makoto, eyes full of distrust. They only acquiesce and step aside at Makoto's word.
Rin passes by them swiftly to kneel beside Makoto.
"Shit. Shit. What the hell are you doing here, Makoto, everyone's back at camp all ready."
He tears strips from his tunic as he talks, not caring in the slightest when he has to hack into his family's sigil. He uses each strip to try to bandage the gash in Makoto's leg; it looks deep, and he has no idea how much blood Makoto has lost already.
He tries not to think of the trail he'd used to find them and how pale Makoto looks as he dips a strip of his tunic into the creek and dabs at the wound just above Makoto's left ear.
Makoto's eyes flutter shut at the contact and sighs.
"These children were hostages-"
"Ah, yeah, Haru mentioned them."
"...You need to take them back with you, Rin."
Rin freezes.
"What the fuck do you mean by you."
Makoto reaches forward, wincing in pain as he does, and takes Rin's free hand into his own.
"I'm not going to make it, Rin."
"No."
"Rin-"
"No. You don't get to do this. We'll both take the brats back, Rei can take a look at you - he's the smartest healer in the realm, he'll patch you up good as new. We just have to-"
"Rin. Please. There's more at stake here. You know that."
Rin wants to punch something. Because he does know. And he hates it.
He doesn't even care the children are probably staring at them. Nothing matters except Makoto.
"...I don't want to leave you here."
Rin's voice is small - smaller than it's been for a long time. Makoto's fingers squeeze his weakly. He's struggling to keep his eyes open by this point.
"You won't be," he whispers, and Rin has to duck forwards to be able to hear him. "I'll always be with you. You still have that ring I made you in the forge when we were pages, right?"
Rin chokes on something between a laugh and a sob. "Yes. It's on the chain around my neck, with father's pendant."
Makoto lifts his other hand, and at his prompting, Rin slides the glove off. Then his breath catches. Because on Makoto's baby finger is the Rin's splotchy attempt at a reciprocating ring.
They had only been children at the time.
They're still barely more than children.
Rin tries to blink the tears from his eyes as he leans forward, letting his forehead rest against Makoto's.
"I love you," he says, letting his lips press against Makoto's one final time. He feels the words shaped against his mouth as Makoto whispers it back to him.
And then he's gone.
Rin takes several moments to compose himself, before forcing himself to pull away. He'll have time to mourn later.
Finally he turns to face the children; the children Makoto had given his life to protect. Rin will be damned if he lets that be in vain.
They have a war to end.
--
Happy (belated) White Day! I kind of took the Tragic Historical AU part of your prompt and ran with it; I hope you enjoyed reading it! (though now that I think about it, it's kind of depressing for having been written for White Day, Um. Sorry about that orz) Also, apologies if there are any mistakes! Its unbeta'd, and I should really be asleep already but I wanted it posted before the deadline!