Prompt 12:
The Gift of the Magi
Mamoru sat in the silence. It was very strange to think that this was the first time meeting these four men around him for the sole fact that were old friends. He still thought of them as the stones he had in his room, right on his nightstand, at his side whenever he would need them. They all looked the same, acted the same, spoke the same, but in the strangest way, they were still new people. Even Katsumi had not yet taken the place of Kunzite, no matter how familiar it was to be with him. This was a new life in a different time. What right did Mamoru have to them?
The truth was he didn’t. Mamoru rose without warning at the realization and left the room. He walked down the short hall to his bedroom and sat down on his bed, his hands immediately picking up the wooden carved box. Running his fingers over the cool wood, he could hear the men out in the living room arguing.
“I knew this was a bad idea,” Jun grumbled lowly.
“Would you stop that?” It was Yuuto’s voice, just as whiney as Zoisite’s used to be.
“Stop what?”
“Acting like you’re right about everything. Maybe he just had to use the bathroom or something.”
Even in another room, Mamoru felt Jadeite roll his eyes. It made him smile as he opened the box. Usually, ghostlike figures would appear before him, patiently waiting to give advice. Now, there was nothing. It truly was them in the other room, but he didn’t really need to check.
It was strange, but he never really looked at the stones all that closely before. His attention had always been on his guardians’ apparitions. Instinctively, he knew that Jadeite and Zoisite were on the outside, despite their similar jagged, green forms. There was some pink speckled in the Zoisite that made it different, but he wouldn’t have known that. He also shouldn’t have known that the pink stone on the inside left was Kunzite, while the inside right was a green stone of Nephrite. He just felt it.
“What are you smirking at?” Jun continued beyond the walls.
“If you two only knew how old this routine is.” Noboru said.
“Excuse me? What routine?” Mamoru was sure Yuuto had crossed his arms by now.
“Nevermind.”
“No, tell me. You said it, you might as well come out with the whole thing now.”
“Forget it.”
Mamoru returned to the room just in time to see Katsumi step beside Yuuto, who looked ready to lunge over the coffee table at Noboru. Katsumi’s hand landed gently on the youngest’s shoulder, gaining his attention. “Easy now, both of you. We don’t want him to come back to a scuffle.”
“Yeah, what a way to ruin the first meet and greet, Yuuto.” Jun scoffed, a playful smirk on his face.
“I didn’t do anything!” Yuuto whined.
“It’s fine,” Mamoru’s voice gathered all of their gazes as he leaned against the door frame that led to the hall. He smiled earnestly. “Nothing is ruined, Yuuto. But I do have a present for each of you.”
The men remained speechless as Mamoru walked back around the couch and placed the wooden box on the coffee table. He watched Jun and Yuuto eye the box curiously, but the other two reacted quite differently. Noboru leaned back in his chair, sinking in with his hands clutching the arms tightly. Katsumi looked away, closing his eyes from the sight.
“Lets not do this,” Noboru said coldly.
“Do what?” Yuuto perked up, his young eyes lighting up with excitement.
“No, I want to.” Mamoru spoke plainly. He hadn’t planned this but it felt like the only thing he could do for them. “Now, it doesn’t matter if you remember or not. You guys have been with me for a long time within these stones.”
“In the stones?”
“Yeah. It was weird for me at first, too, but after you guys died, this was the only way I could talk to you. I don’t know what happened to release your spirits from them, but these stones are empty now. I’m really glad that you’re all able to sit here with me again. I really am, and that is why I’m doing this.”
“Please, sire,” Katsumi begged in monotone. Mamoru knew he was blocking his emotions.
“No, I have to. I want you guys to be with me again, if not as my guardians than as my friends. I need you all, which is why I want you to have your stone. I had your companionship when you had no choice after you died, and though none of you ever spoke otherwise, I understand that there’s a new chance in front of you. You guys can start again if you want. If anything should happen, well, I don’t want the power to trap you with me again. It would feel too selfish.”
Mamoru handed out the stones. None said anything until he gave Katsumi the kunzite. Silver eyes stared at him with sharp focus.
“It was never a trap.”
Mamoru smiled at the silver-haired man. “It means a lot to hear you say that, but still, I’d like you to have it.”
He returned to his spot on the couch, smiling painfully at all of them. “Look, whatever our pasts were, all I can ask from you is to be here if you want to. Nothing more.”
They left with a promise that they’d have their answers individually. Mamoru thought that best, since he didn’t want any of them to pressure the others. He sat alone, staring at the empty wooden box, contemplating what he had given up. The only advisors he’d known in this life, who he trusted more than anything, had just walked out in the hands of their owners. There was nothing he could do if they didn’t want to come back, and no way of finding them again if something should happen. He had traded his guardians to give his friends their freedom. It was the right thing to do, but he still felt incredibly alone.
