Chokers

Chapter One

Disclaimer: Magi does not belong to me…

A/N:

I can't believe I actually posted this ==; My first story in this fandom… please don't be too harsh.

Warnings:

Slavery (sort of), foul language, romantic relationships between males (though not for quite some time), OOC…tell me if there's something I forgot

They weren't necklaces so much as collars, chokingly restrictive bands of metal pressing coldly against their throats.

"Al-Thamen obviously did this as a delaying tactic! They lost Kou, so now they're leaving their royalty and their depraved magi behind-"

"Most of them are Metal Vessel users, they would make valuable weapons-"

"- to kill us all in our sleep! Al-Thamen says they aren't permitted to harm us-"

"Stop arguing! Al-Thamen is trying to sow dissension in our ranks!"

"- but who would trust that witch and her organization?"

"-the collars already bind their magoi so they can't unleash their vessels-"

Yes, collars were the right word for them.

"En-nii…" Kouha spoke in a near-whisper; his voice was ragged from yelling and shouts of anger, his clothes ripped and tattered. Like the rest of the people in the chamber, his wrists and ankles were chained together and he bore a gleaming, metallic choker around his neck. "…What's going to happen to us?"

Kouen didn't reply- couldn't reply, and after a minute Kouha looked away, his eyes shadowed with worry as he surveyed the room and its inhabitants. Kouen, Koumei, Kougyoku, Hakuryuu, Hakuei… the rest of his siblings… their servants… household members…

"What happens to the djinn of metal vessel users when they die?"

"Well, we'll know at midnight won't we? Just wait for the collars to kill them-"

There was a simultaneous flinch from half the people in the room.

"The Reim Empire will not take part in this ridiculous-"

"Well, how about this. Whoever becomes one of their masters will also become responsible for any crimes they commit under their watch- that should be a satisfying incentive for them to make sure they behave."

Kouha bared his teeth angrily. "We aren't pets."

"Shush." Hakuei admonished quietly, keeping her ear pressed to the wall between the adjacent room and the one they were in.

"I'm not interested in taking responsibility for a Metal Vessel user who could turn on me at any moment, much less a magi."

"Me neither, but the servants are free labor."

"Just let them die."

"Wait a second, they might be listening to us right n-"

They all backed away from the adjoining wall as quickly and quietly as they could. After that, there was a tension-filled, silent half hour before heads jerked up as Alibaba burst in.

"H-Hakuryuu," he panted. "You- will you let me-!"

He made a helpless, inarticulate noise, his hands flapping uselessly. Everyone stared at him. Morgiana slipped into the room with a little sigh, and spoke bluntly for him.

"The alliance leaders said they would let you all live if you have someone taking responsibility for you. But it's a little like being a slave. Alibaba-san wouldn't treat you like that… so… it depends on the person." Hakuryuu paused for a second, his eyes wide. Kouha interjected before he could reply to Alibaba's offer.

"Wait, so we're going to be split up and treated like slaves?" he snapped angrily. Morgiana didn't respond. Her eyes were fixed on Alibaba and Hakuryuu. Kouha fumed at being ignored, but he settled down reluctantly when he saw no one was going to answer him, fixing his eyes on Alibaba and Hakuryuu in grudging interest.

"Uh… so… will you? I-I mean, it's not like-"

"I will, Alibaba-dono," Hakuryuu interrupted, looking equally pained and amused by Alibaba's fumbling.

"O-okay, then." The blond boy crouched in front of Hakuryuu and pulled out Amon's sword, using it to prick his index finger, so that a few drops of blood welled up. He pressed his finger to the pale, colorless gem embedded in the choker on Hakuryuu's neck and held it there for a second, before it turned a deep, fiery orange color. "There, I'm done."

He turned to Morgiana, who strode forward to the scarred prince at once without being asked and tore apart the restraints on his wrists and ankles with savage pleasure in her eyes. All three of them turned as they heard footsteps approaching the room. The door opened once again, and Sinbad strode through in all his glory, Ja'far following barely a step behind him. He stopped in front of Kouen, and they stared at each other for a few moments, Sinbad holding a cold smile on his face and Kouen's stony look a borderline glare.

The rest of the room's inhabitants could immediately tell the difference in the interactions between Hakuryuu and Alibaba compared to what was going on now, their rivalry showing as Sinbad silently pricked his index finger and pressed it to Kouen's choker, still keeping that slightly condescending smile on his face. The First Prince of Kou looked like he was barely keeping himself from trying to strangle Sinbad with his bare hands, bound or not.

Sinbad's smile became noticeably warmer as he turned and walked to crouch in front of Kougyoku, who blinked at him in wide-eyed silence, surprise written all over her face.

"How about it, Kougyoku-chan?" he offered gently.

"Oh. U-um, yes?" she squeaked, a bright blush coloring her cheeks. Sinbad grinned at her and extended his hand. A moment later, the contract was sealed, and her gem became a rich purple color.

On the other side of the room, Ja'far stood in front of Koumei, who gave both him and Sinbad a calculating glance before he obligingly tipped his head back to bare the choker. His gem went a poisonous green almost as soon as Ja'far touched it, and the former assassin turned to look questioningly at Sinbad, who nodded at him.

"We're leaving now- by the way, do any of you have an idea where Masrur went?" he turned to look questioningly at Alibaba and Morgiana. The Fanalis pointed down the hall with a shrug. "Alright then, let's go find Masrur and he can get those chains off you!"

He turned to smile at Kougyoku, who smiled nervously back, obviously unused to having his attention so focused on her. Ja'far sighed and rubbed at his temples, thinking back to the little discussion they'd had in the hallway.

"Kouen and Kougyoku? Are you sure?" he questioned Sinbad. "Not Judal?"

"Hmm…? Yes, of course, why not? And Judal… I have to admit that Judal is too much for me to take care of when in addition to Kouen."

"Kouen I can understand, but why Kougyoku?"

"I suppose I'm paying the poor girl back for all the help she gave us, unintended though it might have been," Sinbad smiled sheepishly. Ja'far gave him a dry look.

"Forgive me if I don't believe that's your only reason."

"It'll be fun for me to see Kouen's face when he's being ignored," snickered the king, and Ja'far shook his head in exasperation, knowing that probably still wasn't the reason and that Sinbad wouldn't tell him until he was ready.

"Really, Sin…" He trailed off. "Actually, never mind. I don't care anymore. Just… don't do anything too disastrous."

In the back of the room, Judal's hands fell limply into his lap, his face white and blank as paper as he realized Sinbad wasn't going to bond with him. He'd been banking on Sinbad wanting a magi, even if they were currently powerless, under his thumb- if Sinbad didn't take him, it was quite probable that no one would.

While Sinbad, Ja'far, and their newly bonded companions left the room, Hakuryuu turned to Alibaba. "Ah… if you wouldn't mind… I believe my sister would be the safest with you… I… would you…"

It was utterly awkward to voluntarily suggest that his sister be essentially enslaved to someone else, but Hakuryuu was fairly confident that Alibaba wouldn't even think about doing things to his sister or himself, let alone actually follow through with them.

"Er… Hakuei, right?" Alibaba nodded at Hakuryuu and turned to Hakuei somewhat uncertainly, a questioning expression in his eyes as he extended his still bleeding hand in her direction. "Are you alright with this…? I mean…"

"…I …Yes, I am." Hakuei's face firmed as she tilted her head back for Alibaba to press his finger there. Morgiana ripped her chains off with no less satisfaction than she had for Hakuryuu, and helped her to her feet.

"Are you injured?" The Fanalis enquired, and the other female shook her head confidently.

"Kouen-sama healed us of any serious wounds before they bound our magoi. I have a few bruises, but those can heal on their own."

"I have a good bruise balm in my room…" Their voices faded out as they got further away, and then the remaining members of Kou were left there, waiting anxiously for anyone who might come.

"Do you know anyone who might come for you?" Judal asked the crimson-haired teen. His tone was uncharacteristically subdued, which made Kouha look over in slight concern at the magi who was still sitting pale and shaken in the corner.

"…No, or at least, I don't think so." Kouha flopped onto his back and stared at the ceiling. "I don't want to die yet, obviously, but I have a reputation for being pretty bloodthirsty. I don't think anyone would take me in, but at least everyone else is safe. What about you?"

Judal shifted to a more comfortable position, looking down at his bound hands.

"The only one who would've done it was Sinbad, and you can see what came of that," he snorted derisively. He was famously uncontrollable- Sinbad must have thought it was too much of a risk to bond him.

Normally, they might have talked a little, but the thought of their impending deaths effectively killed any hope for conversation, unlike the other royals who were whispering anxiously to one another as the minutes slipped away and they got closer and closer to midnight- when the collars would completely drain their magoi and leave them nothing more than husks.

As time passed, people continued to come in and bond to the various members of the Kou government, sometimes willingly for those who had friendly connections outside of the Kou Empire, but it was often a silent and resentful affair.

There was one terrible incident where one of the maids had screamed and struggled uselessly until a soldier backhanded her, and she submitted with tears streaming down her face. None of them had been able to help her, whether they wanted to or not.

And so, the hours ticked by, until it was just Kouha and Judal left in the room. More than a few people had come in, seen that they were the only two remaining, and left immediately. Kouha had been called insane more than a few times (just like his mother) for his blood thirst and gathering of strays, and Judal had wreaked havoc across almost every single country they had fought against- no one would risk having to take responsibility for that. (Unless they were Sinbad)

Fifteen minutes before midnight, they heard soft footsteps pattering down the corridor outside. Kouha sat up hopefully, but after the fifth false alarm in a row Judal hadn't bothered trying anymore, just sitting with his head on his knees. The door creaked open, and a single bright blue eye peeked in uncertainly.

"Kouha-kun?" Aladdin opened the door fully, his face showing open surprise at the other boy's presence.

"A-ah! You're Aladdin, from Magnostadt!" Kouha exclaimed, eyes wide in shock. "You…you grew!"

And it was true- after four years of only seeing him in bare glimpses far away on the battlefield; it was rather shocking to find that Aladdin at sixteen years old was barely a hair shorter than Judal, which made him around even with Koumei and a full head taller than Kouha. The resemblance to his father Solomon was uncanny, especially as his features narrowed and he lost the last vestiges of his baby fat.

The war had left it's mark on Aladdin, like it had on everyone else, and there was a dark, jagged scar on his cheek; but despite this there was not a single dark rukh in the fluttering, singing mass around him. His power had grown as he matured, and even the magicless Kouha could sense the slow, immense power roiling around him- coiled like sleeping dragon, battle-ready and prepared to lash out at a moments notice.

"Alibaba-kun is still taller than me though," Aladdin looked a little disappointed at this, but forged on to ask, "Why are you still here, Kouha-kun? I thought that someone would have come by now?"

"No, I don't really know anyone here," shrugged the redhead, averting his eyes. "What are you doing, coming here at such a late time?"

Aladdin smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with one hand.

"I've been out chasing Al-Thamen with Titus and the Fanalis Corps from Reim," he admitted. "I didn't really mean to come back this late, but I was just checking to see if there was anyone left. Ah! - I could bond with you, unless you have someone already coming. It was meant to be just King Vessels and their household who could do that, but apparently a magi is powerful enough as well."

The offer was surprising, but after a second of sheer stupefaction Kouha realized it really shouldn't have been. After all, Aladdin was probably the kindest person he knew, outside of Hakuei… possibly…maybe… He couldn't really compare.

"No one else is coming," he confessed with a weary sigh.

"All right then, I can do it," Aladdin pulled a short knife from his belt and sliced his finger open, then pressed it against the gem on the choker. A few seconds later, the jewel in the choker went the same bright gold as the light rukh around the blue-eyed magi.

It was ten minutes to midnight.

Aladdin and Kouha both turned to look- one worried and one wary- at Judal, who remained sullenly hunched in his corner, not looking at them. When Aladdin thought of Judal, the first thing that came to mind was Ugo's death and the other magi's dark, dark rukh, which were fluttering confusedly about him. But there were also flashes of the lonely little child who had been brought up by Al-Thamen, never knowing love or affection other than what the rukh gave him.

"Jugeru? Do you want me to bond you?" The words were almost unwillingly tumbling out of his mouth, and Aladdin's thoughts were a whirling jumble of whatareyoudoinghekilledUgo but he kept his hand extended to Judal, who was staring at him like he couldn't quite decide whether to start calling him stupid or to be grateful.

"My name is Judal," he finally scowled as he tipped his head back to let Aladdin press his finger to it. "Use it."

As they moved away from the room that had become a makeshift prison and a near execution ground, both Kouha and Judal slowly relaxed, the tension bleeding from their rigid backs and stiffened limbs.

It was five minutes to midnight.

Aladdin guided them through the corridors quickly, only pausing a few times at the places where the corridor split as he tried to recall the way to the room he'd been assigned in what remained of the Kou Palace after the weeklong siege.

They made a few more turns, until they reached what Kouha recognized as the guest wing of the palace and entered a spacious room, which looked as though Aladdin hadn't touched other than to place his bag and some food on the table.

"Make yourselves at home," the magi told them. "I'll go ask if we can get some hammocks set up, but before that-"

It was midnight.

Both Kouha and Judal fell to their knees, clutching at their heads as dark rukh poured from the collars. Aladdin leapt back in shock, brandishing his staff in front of him as his magic thrummed threateningly around it.

There were cries of shock around the palace as the bonded suddenly turned on their masters.

Kouha backed away from Aladdin and sat down heavily on the floor as he tried to resist the sudden impulse to kill the blue-haired magi, pressing his hands against his ringing ears uselessly.

On the other hand, Judal only hesitated for a mere instant, but managed to cry out in a sort of half-hearted warning before he bodily launched himself at Aladdin, years of training by Al-Thamen taking over with ease as his eyes went blank. Luckily, his magoi was bound, so he couldn't rely on his usual attack of offensive magic, and he was still chained, so Aladdin managed to evade the first attack with ease and deflect the second one.

If they had been fighting like this while Aladdin was younger, he might have had difficulties, as he had been more than a little physically weak at the time and like now, he would not have been able to use too much magic for fear of harming Judal too badly.

But he had been keeping to Myers' teachings and kept from being too dependent on his magic, making sure to train his body every day so that he didn't get out of practice. Alibaba had made a valiant attempt at teaching him the art of the sword, but it turned out horribly- he had nearly fallen straight onto the sharp end of the sword and gutted himself by the first lesson, so they had abandoned that line of thinking quickly.

Judal's body staggered over to the bathroom and came back out with a razor blade clutched in one hand; while he did that, Aladdin skirted carefully around Kouha, who was still gripping his head with shaking hands, and snatched up his long, metallic staff.

Matal Mogammet's wand had served him well, but after a particularly grueling battle three years into the war, it cracked straight down the middle and he had had to get it replaced. The remains had been given to Yamraiha, who carried them with her everywhere she went.

"Hadika Hadeka," he incanted, making sure to put much less magoi than was normal into the staff- he definitely didn't want to turn Judal or Kouha into dust, but with this little magoi it would work well to knock them out.

Gently, he extended the staff and tapped Kouha on the back of the head. Instantly, his strained features relaxed into unconsciousness and he fell forward, the compulsion the collar was sending him dissipating as he crumpled limply to the ground.

Then he was forced to bring the staff around to bear once more as Judal leapt at him again, this time with a weapon- the magi was unexpectedly fast and moved with an unnatural ease that he didn't have normally. Was it an effect of the compulsion?

Aladdin lashed out with his wand again, the two magi engaging in a fast paced battle that inevitably ended up with Aladdin sending the other flying into a wall with an Asfal Riih and then knocking him unconscious.

"Aah, I think I went overboard with that Asfal Riih," sighed Aladdin, looking embarrassed even though no one was there to see it. "He'll have bruises from that later. Oh- I need to check on the others and make sure they're alright…"

A bit of Earth magic later, Judal and Kouha were both firmly held against the wall with stone shackles just in case they woke up again and tried to attack someone, and Aladdin was sprinting out the door.

With the strength of the Fanalis and Alibaba's superior swordsmanship, Hakuryuu and Hakuei had been easily pinned down, as their movements had been halting and hesitant, both of them resisting the compulsion as much as they could.

Aladdin met them halfway down the corridor as they were leaving the rooms to check on the others just like him, having tied the two up with the ripped remains of the curtains at the windows.

"What's going on?" Alibaba panted as the three continued to run and subdue as many of the collared Kou citizens as possible, leaving them unconscious and either shackled with stone or tied up creatively in some other way.

"It looks like the collars are putting a compulsion on them to attack people who aren't wearing a collar," Aladdin answered. "I didn't see any of them attacking each other."

They burst into Ja'far's room just as he subdued Koumei, only to see him looking somewhat disappointed as he tightened the wires around Koumei's thin wrists.

"That… was ridiculously easy… and somewhat pathetic," he muttered. "I feel a little like a bully… I guess he really isn't meant for battle."

The three of them exchanged a glance- Ja'far obviously didn't need help- and continued onwards. In some cases, they had to do emergency damage control as the fights knocked over burning lamps, or in a few incidents actually physically subdue the master to keep them from harming the bonded to badly.

Sinbad's room was all the way on the other side of the palace- as soon as the compulsion on Kougyoku activated, Zepar's power utterly eradicated it, leaving her in a deep sleep on the ground. On the other hand, he'd had a bit of trouble with Kouen, not quite able to subdue him properly but also very far from letting Kouen hurt him as well.

In the end, Masrur heard them fighting six rooms over and easily took Kouen down- even with the strange boost from the collar the first prince couldn't hope to match up to a Fanalis in terms of physical capability.

By the time the three of them peeked in, the issue was already taken care of, with the two already bound and Sinbad gone to check on the others. When everything had been taken care of, a meeting was held and it was found there were three causalities- two masters and a collared- and more than a few injuries.

It was also found that once knocked unconscious, the compulsion would dissipate and they would presumably be fine until the next midnight. However, the bonded who had been sleeping at midnight seemed to be unaffected by the compulsion- none of them had attacked their 'masters'.

Sinbad was, of course, optimistic.

"Well, all we have to do is make sure that they're sleeping before midnight, right?" he beamed.

Others… not so much.

"I told you we should have gotten rid of them!"

"This is a plot of Al-Thamen!"

"We already know that!"

"That bitch tried to stab me with my own sword!"

"I'm going to give him the beating of a lifetime for this!"

Despite the many complaints, no one actually gave up their bonded, although there were some very disturbing threats of physical violence in retribution for that night. Aladdin made a mental note to check up on them later, just in case. It wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen, but it ranked pretty high up on the list.

Now, he just had to get back to Kouha and Judal and make sure they weren't still under the compulsion. It was fairly unlikely, but it never hurt to check.

A/N:

Apparently, my mind works in weird ways. This is sort of but not crack ^^; Please tell me if there's something you think I can improve. (And Kouen is absolutely horrible to write.)

FireLark