They ran up through the tunnel, ignoring the loud roars coming from behind as the giants started following after them. Faintly he could hear Viddi yelling their names, but they were too far ahead to be stopped now.

The first thing Johan saw was the giant, one singular giant in the whole playground, shielding the entrance to the tunnel with his whole body.

The next thing he saw was the humans.

Johan sucked in a breath as he saw them. They had brought a whole army! At least a hundred soldiers filled the playground and more were still moving in. All armed to the teeth in metalgear and weapons.

Johan skidded between a giant’s legs, Note and Signe flanking him. The giant yelled after them but Johan only stopped when they were right in between the giant and the humans, standing at a safe distance from both.

Johan tok a second to glance back at the giants following them. Dozens of them were coming out of the tunnel but at the sight of the human army they all came to a stop by the first giant, wielding their clubs and axes uneasily as they spread to create something like a front line to cover the entrance.

Viddi pushed through to the front, eyes wide and mouth open in a yell that immediately fell silent at the sight of the humans. The front line pulled him back behind them.

The human army was still marching into its formation, but the very front had taken their places, standing ready at the front. One of them was yelling orders behind him and he turned towards them with wide eyes.

“Hey!” The man yelled, standing taller in panic, his wide eyes flickered between the three of them. “What the hell are you doing, get out of here!”

“Actually, you’re the ones that should leave!” Johan yelled back with a smile. The man’s eyebrows pulled together in confusion and Johan followed his eyes to a buff man next to him.

Johan paused, eyes catching on the regal uniform he wore. The man spluttered, face turning as red as his cloak. “And what do we have here?! Humans protecting monsters?! You have no honor!”

“Dad!” Someone pushed through the crowd. “Those are the people that were mean to us earlier!”

Oh! That was the guy Signe knocked out!

So that was why the humans came to attack then. The guy was part of some rich family, clearly, considering he was bringing a whole army. Oh, how didn’t Johan see it earlier? It was so obvious! No normal human was that annoying.

“Aw, did the brat come back for revenge?” Johan mocked, taking deep pleasure in watching the pale face turn bright red just like his apparent father, both his mouth and eyes opening wide in pure outrage.

“B-b-brat?!” The guy spluttered, clearly not used to being talked down to.

Johan turned to the man leading the army. He seemed reasonable enough, seeing as his first reaction to the three of them was to get them out of the battlefield. Too bad the other two were there as well. Johan had a feeling they weren’t quite as rational.

“Don’t speak to the prince of the Northern Kingdom like that!“ The leader burst out, face furiously red.

Right. Ok, Johan was wrong, he was not reasonable. He turned a curious eye to the guy. A prince, huh?

“Prince?” Signe laughed. “He won’t even follow basic adventurer courtesy, and he is supposed to rule a kingdom? Maybe another knock on the head will fix him.” She taunted, fist hitting her palm loudly.

“You were knocked out by a girl?!” Johan raised his eyebrows as the king turned to his son. “Is that why you were carried home by Edvin?!”

“I wasn’t!” The guy argued quickly, looking around him. “I...I was knocked out by him!”

Johan followed his finger all the way to his left, right at where Note stood. At the sudden attention he crossed his arms, glowering at the guy who quickly let down his hand and looked away.

Johan lifted an eyebrow. Even if it wasn’t a clear lie, Note wouldn’t hurt a fly, he was the gentlest person Johan knew.

“Yeah, ok.” Johan drew out and the guy glared at him.

“Do not call my son a liar!” The king yelled, taking a threatening step forward.

“If you say so.” Johan said, raising his hands defensively with a smile, very aware of the uneasy giants behind him and the impatient shuffling of the army ahead.

The king gritted his teeth, breathing angrily out his nose but he said nothing, instead he turned to the army. “Those three have picked their side.”

Oh uh. Johan clenched his fists as the king raised his voice and pulled free his sword.

“Attack and do not leave any alive!”

The army cheered and loud clangs filled the air as they raised their weapons. Then Johan’s view was blocked. Within the second, the giants had gotten between them and the army.

He could hear the army coming closer and could barely see their jogging turn to running as they clashed with the giants. Loud roars and yells filled the air and even more giants came out from the tunnel behind.

He felt the adrenaline course through him and he watched in morbid fascination as one giant easily tok out five men with just a swing of his club.

Oh, this was going to be fun.

With a gleeful grin he released his ribbons, the amazing feeling of silk running down his arms and into his palms as he tok in the scene before him, trying to decide where to start.

With a quick whip of the ribbon he flung it out to wrap around a boulder, and pulled. He laughed as a wave of humans fell over, their feet pulled right out from under them, and over the fallen humans, Signe engaged, rushing in with the axeblade in her hands and readying a strike.

Note passed close to his back and Johan felt the brief touch of a hand on his shoulder before he saw him, sword appearing in a flash of light and his dark hair falling down around his jaw as he shot off towards the fight.

Wow. Johan watched as they worked their way through the enemy. It was amazing. This was the first time they had all fought together, he realized with a jolt. Before they had only sparred or trained, but now, for the first time, all three of them were in a real fight.

Note and Signe had both been trained in fighting since they were children, and it showed. Signe, with her long hair and dress, somehow fit perfectly in amongst all the soldiers with only the axeblade in her hands.

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And then there was Note.

The sight was stunning, his black hair hung freely, hairpin gone in favor of his sword. His thin eyes showed deep concentration as he swung his sword with practiced ease, gracefully cutting down enemies left and right.

Johan felt so much at that moment. His heart hammered in his chest and adrenaline pumped through his veins as he pulled back the ribbon and raised his arm. He was just about to repeat the attack when the crowd separated, the pathetic prince barely visible through the fighting.

Target acquired. Johan grinned. The guy stood there and was throwing out commands to unbothered, fighting soldiers as they went past.

“Hey, crown prince!” Johan yelled with a plastered smile as he fought through the crowd. He grinned as the guy froze, then turned very slowly to set his eyes on him. Johan summoned his dagger to get through faster.

“Fight me?” He yelled, the words carrying over all the noise.

The guy didn’t move and for a second Johan didn’t think the guy heard him, but then he paled so quickly Johan was worried he would simply die from fear.

For some reason the guy hadn’t been left with any protection, despite having been titled as a prince, and neither the king nor the general were anywhere in sight.

It was no wonder who would win this fight and the guy seemed to realize it too, because after a wild look around him, he turned and ran. Johan felt his eye twitch. That guy had started this whole thing, yet he ran the second he faced danger, not caring of the soldiers dying around him or the giants he sent them to kill.

Johan threw his ribbon, catching the guy’s ankle and sending him face first to the ground.

He walked leisurely towards the guy, watching in deep satisfaction as he struggled to get free, throwing fearful glances back at Johan as he got closer and closer all while Johan kept the ribbon taut. The fear on the guy’s face was stark as he flipped over to his back, eyes wide as he crawled back in panic, giving up on freeing his leg.

“Having fun?” Johan asked mockingly and gave the ribbon a sharp jerk. The guy yelped as he landed on his back again.

Johan better give the guy a proper lesson if his parents weren't going to. He released the ribbon and pushed up his sleeves, feeling it tighten familiarly back around his forearms. “Was it worth stirring up trouble and coming back here?”

The guy, now free, scrambled to his feet, still backing away. Johan kept his pace, the fighting around him not bothering him at all. The guy was glancing around desperately now, but nobody came to help. Then his eyes caught on something. Johan watched coldly as the guy ripped a sword out of a dying soldier’s chest, and pointed it at him with two shaking hands.

“Don’t come any closer, my father will-!” The guy threatened but Johan had heard enough. He launched at the guy and slashed his dagger-

“Not bad.” Johan acknowledged, pleased.

The guy had managed to jump back just in time, his hand quivering as he covered a small cut on his cheek.

Johan eyed him. The panic wasn’t doing the prince any favors in this fight. From the way he held himself, he clearly had decent training. He didn’t know how to use that training against Johan, though. It was a shame that his personality was so bad.

Now, time to make him run off so Johan never had to see his idiotic face again.

“I don’t have a sword,” He started. “So you’ll have to excuse me for using my dagger instead.”

With that he lunged forward, dagger clashing loudly against a hastily risen sword. The guy stared at him with big eyes-

Then they glanced at something over Johan’s shoulder.

The next second was a blur of red fabric.

The soldier fell to the ground with a thud, knocked unconscious in his attempt to sneak up on Johan, his sword clattering uselessly against the ground.

Hah! As if that would work on him!

He looked back at the crown prince triumphantly-

His heart fell.

Everything went quiet as he stared at the scene in front of him. He followed the ribbon with his eyes. Back to his own hand.

Dread welled over him. He looked back at the guy, his white face a stark contrast to the red of the ribbon around his throat.

Johan yerked back, letting go like the ribbon burnt him.

The stiff body hit the ground with a terrible thud and suddenly the world started moving again. He was in the middle of the playground, soldiers and giants fighting all around him. Just a second ago he had barely been able to hear the fighting but now the noises were deafening.

He only wanted to scare the guy.

“Johan!” He turned around with jagged movements and froze. Why was the old giant on the playground? He stared at Johan with a terrified look on his face but only a mirror of what Johan must look like. “Get back inside, now!”

Johan looked back to the body numbly. The eyes were still wide with terror. He tried to gather his ribbon back but couldn’t find the power, instead he grabbed at it with shaky hands, tangling them up around his forearms.

“You!” Suddenly the king screamed and Johan turned around slowly. “You killed my son! Soldiers, kill him!”

Johan could only stare at the king. He didn’t seem sad at all. You were supposed to be sad when your family died.

“Uncle!”

Johan jerked back to reality with a gasp. He turned towards the sound just in time to see the old giant fall. The ground shook as he landed heavily on his back, showing off the spear deeply embedded in his chest, and from the other side of the cave, Viddi screamed, trampling through the army of soldiers trying to separate them.

Johan ran for the old giant. What was he doing in the playground?! He skidded to a halt in front of him and carefully stepped in the pool of blood forming around him. It was the only way closer. He looked angrily around for who could have done it but every soldier in close proximity was either already dead or quickly backing away.

The battlefield became quiet as everyone seemed to realize something big had happened.

“You-!” Johan didn’t have the words. How could someone be that stupid?! He could barely walk, what was he doing going right into a battlefield?! Johan tok a deep breath, watching the giant with wide eyes and his heart twisted painfully. “Why did you come outside?!”

“Child, this is not your fight.”

“You’re still on that?!” He yelled angrily, trying to find a way to help but he couldn’t even get close to the spear. The giant’s chest heaved higher than he could reach and the fresh blood was making everything too slippery to climb.

“Your father wanted a better world for you. An easier life than the one you were destined for.” The old giant - No, Hymir - started, completely ignoring his words. “At the time I thought it was a ridiculous wish, but now that I have had the pleasure of meeting you, I see.”

“This isn’t about me.” Johan argued through gritted teeth and the giant huffed out a laugh.

“Ah, but it is. You are more important than you think.” Hymir said and coughed. “It was stupid of me to think I could bring you three back inside by myself, but don’t lose any sleep for me, my time was already near. Yet in my dying moments, it comforts me knowing Fate is here. Everything happened as it was meant to, and so it will continue to do.”

Johan closed his mouth with a click, a lump forming in his throat.

Important. No. No…

Then Viddi and Dornir fell to their knees next to them and Johan had to look away.

“Uncle, what-?” Dornir was quickly interrupted.

“My nephews, it is good to see you, even like this. I’m afraid we will need a new leader soon.” Hymir said deeply, ignoring their protests. “Someone who can lead our horde to live in peace and prosperity. Not to mention, safety. Someone who has not given up on life. Someone that does not need to be scolded by a child.”

Johan could feel his eyes on him but he didn’t look back. He bit his lip, his head feeling heavier and heavier.

“Viddi, you should have had my position from long ago. I believe you will do great. ” And with that Hymir closed his eyes.

“Uncle!” Viddi screamed and threw himself on the old giant.

Johan squeezed his eyes shut and jerked around, hands coming up to his head, he tok stumbling steps away. Back. Away from the awful scene.

Where was Note and Signe? Why did they even come here? To help the humans eradicate the giants? To kill the crown prince? Why?! What good thing had happened while they were there? What point was there?! They could have been at home selling fish, doing errands- doing anything! But instead they were here? Blood on their hands and they didn’t even know why!

Johan felt a sharp pressure in his head and suddenly breathing got much harder and he had to fight to keep himself still.

“Fate?”

Johan heard a whisper. His head jerked up and the only thing he felt was rage as his eyes snapped open and he set his eyes on the king, looking small amongst his soldiers.

Something snapped.

Everything went black.