"But Yuuri," Phichit whines, tugging on Yuuri's arm, "we have to go!"

Sighing wearily, Yuuri asks, "Go to a big ball, days away from here, just to be in a crowded hall and have no food for hours?"

"Yes!" Phichit says brightly, eyes twinkling. "Come on, everyone is going to be there! Like Michele and Sara, and Emil, and, um, other people you don't really know? Also, food. Probably."

"That's really convincing, Phichit," Yuuri intones drily. He walks ahead, striding toward the bridge. If he doesn't get to his parent's house before sun down, Minako is likely to drink too much wine and start mixing his sister's potions with each other "to see what happens." The green hair and mild case of frog ears she had for a week last time somehow only made her more curious about it.

Huffing, Phichit grabs Yuuri's arm to slow him down. "But! Sara has that really interesting book you've heard about." Yuuri pauses, blinking. Phichit suppresses a smile. "And I may, possibly, just happen to know she'd be willing to let you borrow it."

"At what price?"

"Hmm, she usually charges favors, as you know"—Yuuri grimaces, knowing where this is going—"but, since we're such good friends and even better customers, she said she'd do it if you go as her unofficial date to the ball," Phichit finishes with a flourish, nearly skipping with excitement.

Yuuri groans; his fears were justified. He covers his face with his free hand. "Phichit?"

Guilelessly, he responds, "Yes, Yuuri?"

"You know Michele is going to tear my head off, right?"

"Sara won't let him do that."

"You know Sara won't be there all the time! She'll be dancing with other guys!"

"Not if you dance with her."

Fixing a flat look at Phichit, Yuuri barely stops himself from sticking out his tongue. "You know I won't be dancing."

"And you know, between Sara and I, you will be dancing at some point. You always do!"

"I think you mean, 'Sara, you, and alcohol', " Yuuri grumbles, fixing his glasses to hide his embarrassed flush.

"That too!" Phichit nods wisely.

"This is going to be terrible. We don't even know the man throwing the party beyond the fact he gave out really expensive looking invitations to, well, just about everyone," Yuuri argues, not quite given up on skipping the party yet.

"You don't know the man, sure, but you don't know many people to begin with," Phichit shoots back.

Forcing back a growl of irritation, Yuuri says, "Then tell me about him."

"I'd thought you'd never ask. His name is Tobias Fairweather and he's a thirty-seven year old virgo, really likes to eat steak, has a lot of horses despite having a small phobia of them, can't remember to close his windows when he plots evilly, has an oddly maniacal laugh, and just absolutely loves magic."

Yuuri freezes, squinting at Phichit. "What was that middle part?"

"Hm? The horse thing? It's weird right? I hear it's some type of therapy to get over—"

"No! The 'plots evilly' and 'maniacal laughter'?" Yuuri asks incredulously.

Tapping his finger to his lip, Phichit drawls, "I may have a few alternative reasons to go, including freeing some magical creatures from the man's ridiculously remote and well-warded castle."

Yuuri resists the urge to rub his face. Why does Phichit love to beat around the bush so much? It's gotten to the point Yuuri no longer knows when he's just being stubborn and when he has a self-appointed mission, which is probably the point. "Is it good information, at least?"

"Always," Phichit chirps.

"And you really can't just go without me?"

"I thought about it," Phichit says, "but it would seem strange for me to show up alone. While Fairweather does not have any official allies as far as I can tell, he does have a lot of money from somewhere. Hired help can't be ruled out." He waves his hands at Yuuri teasingly. "Don't worry about it, though! Have some fun, avoid Fairweather, dance with Sara. Duck into one of the protection circles when spells start flying, okay?"

Yuuri feels his magic spike, colder than an icicle being driven into his spine. Like always, his magic turns angry when he's dismissed so easily. Yuuri sighs through his nose, letting go of the frustration and falling quickly into a familiar helplessness. A mage who can't control their own magic doesn't belong on the battlefield, he knows this, but the urge to do something eats at him intensely. "I can set up some wards, if you need. I've been getting better with them," Yuuri offers before wincing. He can't even promise that they will be stable, just that he's "better" than he was.

This is why he hates when Phichit drags him into any of his spy games. Yuuri can't control his mouth and practically begs to help, and then the time comes and his magic won't do anything useful.

Of course, Phichit agrees cheerfully. Phichit never gets mad at him, simply scrapping the original plan and moving on. Despite knowing that Phichit always has a back up (some for very odd, very specific, and very, very unlikely situations), Yuuri has a hard time blocking out the thought of Phichit making new plans specifically because he's always messing up a spell or ward.

Interrupting his depressing thoughts, Phichit loudly announces, "Now that that's settled, we need to get outfits and masks!" He grabs onto Yuuri and begins towing him back to town.

"Before we do that, I need to go save my sister's hard work from my ballet teacher," Yuuri says, extricating himself from Phichit's clinging hands.

"This is stupid."

Yuuri looks over in shock at hearing his thoughts voiced aloud. A teen with bright blond hair and two people, a grizzled old man and a severe looking older woman, all frown at the gaudy hall.

The woman smacks the teen's back with a bark of, "Straighten your spine!" and the man growls something under his breath that makes the teen snort. A few feet away, another young man with black hair and stoic features stares uninterestedly at his surroundings.

"That would be Yuri Plisetsky, Yakov Feltsman, and Lilia Baranovskaya," Phichit whispers. "The boy is set to be the next chief warlock of the North. Feltsman and Baranovskaya are both teachers to him and former spies. Keep it diplomatic and formal around them." He grins, saying, "Though I hear it's very difficult to do so with Plisetsky alone."

"I'll keep that in mind," Yuuri says uncertainly. He feels a heavy gaze on them and turns his head just in time to see dark eyes flick away. "Um, who is the man over there?"

Frowning, Phichit looks over a bit more obviously than before. "Oh, Otabek Altin. Don't know much about him beyond his being Bonded to Plisetsky. He's very private, takes all the steps to ensure there are no leaks besides what he wants leaked. That is to say: nothing." Challenge glints in Phichit's eyes. "Yet."

Directly after the four move away from the entrance, a man in eye-catching clothing and a woman hanging off his arm in an only slightly less noticeable dress burst forward. "It's JJ-Style!" he shouts, somehow making an awkward pose seem almost natural. The woman copies his move, grinning.

"And that would be JJ, or Prince Jean Jacques, and his fiancée, Isabella. Feel free to ignore them, most of us do."

Scrunching up his eyebrows, Yuuri asks worriedly, "But, he's a prince, right? Surely we shouldn't snub him and his country?"

"His country is technically under the rule of Plisetsky's crown, though you wouldn't know it by seeing them interact. He is prince in title only," Phichit dismisses before perking up. "I see Sara and Michele! Hey! Over here!"

Yuuri follows his gaze and meets the full-on glare of Michele. Squeaking, Yuuri waves in their general direction and ditches Phichit to go find the alcohol. He's going to need a lot of it tonight. Hopefully Emil will be willing to distract Michele as much as possible.

Apologizing to the multitude of people he bumps into in his rush, Yuuri barely even realizes that he is leaving the main hall until he's out of the crush of people and gasping like he just ran a marathon. This is why I hate parties, Yuuri thinks. People get crammed together like sardines and start sucking up to whoever they can. It's all Yuuri can do not to simply leave then and there.

But that's when he sees him. A beautiful man, dressed in brightly colored feathers, stands behind an enchanted glass wall smiling blandly at the partygoers that come to stare at him. Yuuri squints, taking in the strong jaw and thin nose visible beneath the matching feather mask.

Who is he? he wonders, trying to place the man with the various photos of those possibly kidnapped by the host Phichit showed him on the way over. While mentally flipping through the faces and names, Yuuri doesn't realize his feet have already begun to walk toward the display as if his body is being pulled by an invisible string.

Bumping into someone breaks his concentration. "Oh, excuse me!" Yuuri exclaims, looking up. He freezes. Of course he would walk into the evil host of the party, of course he would. Phichit owes me so much, Yuuri thinks and tries not to cringe away from the oppressive man in front of him. At well over six feet, seemingly built of nothing but muscle and restrained aggression, Yuuri would have pegged Tobias Fairweather more suited toward being a knight rather than a lord, self declared or not. Somehow, though, Yuuri's magic seems less than threatened. It's the only reason he's able to stay in place instead of leaving immediately.

"It's alright," Fairweather says, smile straining at the edges. "A fire bird, if you can believe it. Such a beautiful specimen, isn't it?" he asks, waving his ring covered hand imperiously at the trapped man. The ostentatious jewels sparkle even in the dimmer light of the hallway.

"Um, yes?"

"I only accept the best for my private collection." His smile turns more genuine but his aura speaks only of menace. "This one in particular," Fairweather says, tapping on the glass, "gave me quite a lot of trouble during capture. After, too. Only recently has it been able to behave enough to be put out on display like this." Clearly warming to the subject, Fairweather crosses his bulging arms and settles his weight on the wall. "It was the middle of last summer, and I was scouting for more rare finds, when a child runs to me, crying about a monster…"

Yuuri tries to pay attention, if only because he fears what will happen if Fairweather realizes he's being ignored, but can't help but turn his gaze to the feather-covered man. This close, Yuuri can see the tension in his shoulders, the forced way his lips tick up at the corners where they had been falling down, the twitching of his hands like the feathers were real and he itched to fly away.

There are few people around now, having seen the way Fairweather dragged Yuuri into a one-sided conversation and very much not wanting to get caught in the same way. This leaves Yuuri almost alone and with no distractions from the overdramatic man beside him and the beautiful man in the cage. Yuuri's magic practically sings every inch he moves toward the glass.

Thankfully, Fairweather does not stop speaking, undoubtedly over-embellishing his own stories. The lack of people means the fire bird takes notice of Yuuri back. He grins that bland grin at first, but curiosity soon enters his eyes.

He tilts his head, eyes taking in all that he can of Yuuri and it is every bit the bird-like motion one would expect from such a creature. Yuuri has to reign in his desire to take off his mask and let the fire bird see him. That would draw too much attention from the evil overlord beside him.

Still, sparks of Yuuri's magic escape his fingers. He clenches his fist. He hasn't felt his magic react to someone like this since he first saw Yuuko. The fire bird's eyes dart down to his hands and the bland smile twitches a bit and his eyes narrow, but then Fairweather is clamping a hand down on Yuuri's shoulder, scaring him half to death.

"And then, this self-proclaimed 'Victor' shrieks like a chicken being plucked as I cast a very old, very difficult spell I picked up from some monastery a few years ago, binding its magic so it can no longer teleport around like it had been doing, the coward," Fairweather boasts, clearly restraining himself from spitting as he sneered out the last of his sentence. As if trying to run from a madman is dishonorable, Yuuri thinks. His magic nearly hisses its agreement.

"So, his name is Victor?" Yuuri asks, gaze switching to the fire bird without meaning to.

Fairweather's lip curls. "It is a fire bird. It has no name beyond what I choose for it and I have decided that it doesn't deserve one yet. As I was saying, after my magnificent spell was cast, it tried one last time to escape me. It transformed into the humanoid shape you see before you, and started to beg like a dog." He laughed, maniacally (just like Phichit said, Yuuri can't help but notice). "Of course, I couldn't spare it, no matter how sweet it talked. Months I had been tracking it, and it thinks appealing to my morals will make me change my mind? Ha! I took it down, threw some magic absorbing chains on it—that I made by myself, I'll have you know—and marched it across the continent tied to the back of my horse!"

As Fairweather goes into the details of how much Victor fell and was dragged through the dirt and mud, Yuuri's magic once more spikes, but this time in anger. No one deserved to be treated like that. Suddenly, Yuuri feels filthy. That man had touched him. He had entered this disgusting castle and been fully prepared to eat and drink and possibly dance to the music provided by this horrible man. He needs to talk to Phichit, now.

"I'm sorry, I need to find my friend," Yuuri interrupts, whipping around and speed-walking away. He hears the insulted sputtering behind him but that only spurs him forward and away. Yuuri knows Phichit has a plan, but it needs to be expedited. There's no way they can leave the captured creatures in this terrible place any longer than they have already.

—

"You want to what?" Phichit hisses, eyes wide.

Yuuri stubbornly crosses his arms. "We need to do something."

"Yes, that's why I have a coalition of high level mages and spies already working on it, Yuuri! We weren't going to show our hand this soon! He might change his wards or trigger something before we have time to incapacitate him! There can be little to no unaccounted for variables in this plan and moving before we can triple check everything sets us up for a possible disaster."

"This isn't right!" Yuuri's eyes light up with his magic, turning a bright blue. "You may be a master spy, Phichit, but I spent ten minutes with the man and I can tell he won't do anything. He's arrogant and thinks he can take on the world by himself."

"And it's possible that he can!" Phichit whisper-yells back. "There's no way of knowing completely, not yet. There are creatures here that are nearly impossible to catch, and yet he has. Seung-gil Lee, the dragon known for his cunning, is here. Mila Babicheva, a dryad with the strength to level cities, was still somehow caught by this man. Kenjirou Minami is a faun that has disappeared from more containing cells than any other creature on record, and he is in a glass cage two hallways away. No one has seen Fairweather actually fight, even our source couldn't tell us, yet all these creatures were subdued and kidnapped. How do you explain that, Yuuri?"

"I...I don't know," Yuuri admits, biting his lip. "But my magic is not something that I control, Phichit. It has its own mind. And it is telling me I can beat him."

Phichit clenches his jaw. He knows that Yuuri, despite his hard work and stubborn attitude, still has doubts about his abilities. Where others are joined with their magic, Yuuri must bargain with and cajole his. It has left him feeling worthless at times and he's even considered not practicing his magic. To see Yuuri so sure and so visibly in tune with his magic is very persuasive to him.

Emphasis on "to him." It's never easy to tell a mini army of spies that their plan will be scrapped due to a sudden change, let alone when that change is one person believing in a friend with unpredictable magic on a good day.

"I don't know," Phichit says helplessly. "I don't know how to explain this, and it scares me, Yuuri. Not having information gets spies killed. Spies getting killed means civilian losses, too. I don't want to see you hurt."

"Trust me," Yuuri pleads, reaching out to place his hand on Phichit's shoulder. "Please."

Closing his eyes and praying, Phichit sighs. "This is going to be terrible."

The blinding grin that he sees on Yuuri's face when he looks up is almost worth what a pain in his ass Feltsman and Baranovskaya will be when he tells them.

—

When Yuuri is sure Fairweather is off somewhere, loudly talking about his accomplishments, he sneaks back to Victor's cage. People have moved on, for the most part, likely getting free food from the buffet Fairweather had opened half an hour ago. Victor still stands there but his fake smile is gone. As soon as Yuuri is within sight neither look away from the other. The gentle murmur of everyone talking and the music fade away from Yuuri's ears. His magic feels magnetized to the fire bird and he doesn't try to stop it this time.

Yuuri's hand gently lies on the wards that coat the glass. It leaves his hand hovering inches away, which displeases his magic immensely. That is, until Yuuri sees another, paler hand on the opposite side also hovering in front of his own. He looks up into that bright gaze and smiles at the curiosity in what he can see of Victor's expression. Few words can articulate his exact feelings, beyond a glowing warmth that starts to envelop him like a hug. Neither notice that Yuuri's hand is slowly sinking through the wards, burrowing through them like they were warm butter instead of magic meant to keep a fire bird from escaping.

"What are you doing?" a voice screeches from behind Yuuri.

Yuuri's magic snaps out like a cloak, protecting him from a malicious spell aimed at his back. It only registers because Victor looks up and glares hatefully at Fairweather while banging on the wards. He's opening and closing his mouth like he's saying something and Yuuri desperately wants to hear his voice. Yuuri's magic latches onto that desire and suddenly the glass is shattering and Victor is in front of him, within touching distance.

Somehow, he seems more full of life, his hair shinier, his eyes lighter, and his red outfit a deeper, more vibrant shade. Yuuri's magic, for once, approaches gently and sweetly, testing Victor's own aura. It's incredible to Yuuri, to feel Victor's life force flood his senses, to practically see the melding of their two magics.

Victor himself looks equally overwhelmed, eyes closing and head tilting back, arms spread like a bird about to take flight. Yuuri has never seen anything as beautiful.

There are vague sounds of fighting in the background but Yuuri's magic shields them from any attacks.

Finally, Victor's head comes down. "So, you are Yuuri, hm?" Victor asks, tilting his head so he can wink at the man. "I am Victor, your new partner!"

Yuuri clutches his chest in a sudden fit of shyness. "Hi," he stutters out. How much has my magic been controlling me? he wonders, becoming aware of the battle going on behind them for the first time. "Oh, no! I promised Phichit I would fight Fairweather myself!"

Grabbing Yuuri before he can fully turn away (both shuddering at the sensation), Victor announces, "I will fight with you." He doesn't give Yuuri a chance to hesitate, rushing forward into the middle of the fight.

"Oh." Yuuri blinks after him before clearing his head and trying to cast some shields around the people he knows are his allies. Surprisingly, his magic doesn't resist him for once. He sees Sara startle a bit at the blue surrounding her but she rolls with it and begins to cast her own spells, taking out a small dagger to hold in her left hand. Yuuri loses track of her quickly when he sprints after Victor. There's a new sense of awareness he didn't have before, glowing brightly in his mind. Victor. It fills him with determination. He will not let his partner down. He will not allow that horrible man to lay a finger on his Victor, or any creature, ever again. But he has to find him first.

Following the pull of his magic, Yuuri can't help but notice how much lighter his magic feels now. It's easier to direct and he uses it to its fullest capacity trying to get to where the fighting is most heated. So this is what others feel, all the time? he wonders, marvelling at the smooth feeling. A warmth spreads from his chest, foreign but welcome, and Yuuri has the oddest sensation of amusement that is not his own. The partnering of mages and creatures, or even other mages, has been known to create a link, but Yuuri always thought he would never experience such a thing. It's wonderful and fills him with more joy than he has felt in years. Finally making it to Victor, who is protecting a downed Feltsman, the tug on his chest eases. That will take some getting used to.

Phichit and Baranovskaya are facing off against Fairweather, throwing containment charms and small knives like confetti at a parade. Fairweather is snarling in anger as they dance around his hulking figure—literally, in Baranovskaya's case. Yuuri has to consciously keep from clapping as she does a tour jeté out of the way of two different curses, throwing her daggers as she goes. The former ballerino in him wants to beg for lessons.

Victor nudges him, again sharing his warmth (Yuuri never realised how cold he was all the time) and this time Yuuri attempts to share his own feelings of joy and determination. Victor grins, eyes practically glowing.

Seeing the fire bird, Fairweather roars, "That is my beast! How dare you come here and steal from me!"

"Yuuri!" Phichit shouts, trying to fight off Fairweather's conjured golems. "You have to hurry! He did something to the wards!"

Fairweather laughs (again, very maniacally). "You're all idiots!" He throws out a hand, hitting Baranovskaya with a dark brown spell. She collapses, coughing out blood. "I knew all along! This was trap to gather any who could oppose me and it worked! Soon you will all be in my collection! Everyone," he growls, pointing at Yuuri and Victor, "except you two." Fairweather launches himself at them, his sickly green magic surrounding his outstretched hands.

Yuuri's own blue magic wells out of him, rising like a wave ready to level a city to defend their partner. Jumping at the heat flowing through him, Yuuri see's Victor's aura, redder than even the feathers of his outfit, leaking out of him and mixing with the blue. The boost fills him with certainty. They will win.

Not bothering to respond, their combined magic stops his blows, but Yuuri grunts at the unexpected drain. That's never happened before.

Grinning, Fairweather contorts his fingers unnaturally, the aura of green now intertwined with small slivers of blue and red. "Oh, I like that," he mutters, focusing dangerously on the two partners.

Victor releases a strange noise, not unlike the caw of a crow, and then there's fire surrounding Fairweather. "Yuuri, he's done this before. He drained me to almost nothing when he caught me and has been draining me since. Our connection has helped to restore most of my reserves but this cannot drag on. He gains an advantage over time."

"The hell did that bastard do to Yakov!"

Yuuri, and most of those fighting, focus on Plisetsky who is shoving his way to the old man. He's followed by a pitch black shadow that so effortlessly downs the opposition it seems more like an accident than a purposeful attack. The way it completely avoids Sara and Michele, though, shows how controlled it is.

"Fight me, Fire Bird!" Fairweather yells, hands swirling as he slowly breaks down the fire magic.

"I'm going to fight you, you asshole!" Plisetsky shouts. He carelessly bumps past Yuuri and Victor, his shadow following faithfully. Victor croaks a little, head tilted curiously. The shadow pauses, Altin's dark eyes appearing from the mass of black to take in the silver haired fire bird and blinking slowly. Then he's gone and Plisetsky is throwing around his own bright yellow magic, distracting Fairweather from the shade circling around.

"Yuuri," Phichit pants, coming to Yuuri's side. He's sweating and obviously tired already. "If you can't do this, I understand, but you need to get with the others—"

Victor frowns, pulling Yuuri away and putting himself between the two friends. "Yuuri can do it. We can do it."

"Okay," Phichit says, raising his hands in peace, then sending out a spell that hits someone that had been trying to get in a cheap shot. "You need to focus on his rings. They're absorbing anything that they come in contact with and he has never been seen without them. We're guessing they hold most of his power."

Victor nods in agreement. "When he fought me, he threw one at me. It took so much of my magic I wasn't able to continue in my bird form."

The reminder of Victor's kidnapping stokes the ice cold flames of Yuuri's magic. "Victor and I will be able to do it," Yuuri grits out.

"Good luck, Yuuri, Victor!" Phichit runs off into the fray once more.

Yuuri and Victor watch Plisetsky for a moment, trying to find a good time to break in. They see their opportunity when Altin drags Fairweather's foot out from under him. Altin engulfs the man, covering him in black. But then Altin and Plisetsky are yelling in pain, Altin snapping back into himself, suit torn around his side, clutching at his chest while Plisetsky is on one knee grabbing his head.

Fairweather laughs from the ground, holding up his fistful of Altin's magic. "No one ever learns! My magic is unbeatable because I'm only ever using yours!" He jumps up, eyes landing on Victor instantly. "How about I show you?" Pointing his fingers, fire springs out. Yuuri recoils at the perverse feeling of Victor's magic under someone else's control.

Yuuri brings his own hand up and focuses on a shield. He jolts when Victor's magic nudges him and now he has the thought to make his own fire, instead of the shield. He pushes back, but keeps the fire. In front of them a blue shield with a flickering red flame outline comes into being, just in time to stop the stolen magic from hitting them.

It should feel wrong, to be influenced like that, but Yuuri just feels good about being able to create magic with Victor. Their magic combined like that in a split second, give and take with hardly a moment's notice. It is amazing.

We can do this. The words echo in his mind over and over, and Yuuri starts to believe it more and more. We can do this.

Victor's hands land on Yuuri's shoulders. Their magic pushes outward, a tidal wave of energy that rushes toward Fairweather. He confidently brings up his hands, rings glowing brightly already. But then, it reaches him.

Fairweather jolts back at the impact and barely steadies himself before a second burst hits him. Then a third, and a fourth. And it just keeps going. Yuuri and Victor both have their eyes closed, a purple haze surrounding them that only grows bigger and brighter as the minutes pass. It swirls like a tornado and has separated the three of them from the rest of the battle.

"What are you doing?" Fairweather yells, holding his hands up desperately. The rings are only absorbing enough magic that his face isn't completely obscured like his legs are becoming. "Stop! How—" The crack of a ring on his pinky cuts Fairweather off. Yellow and black magic burst out and flee to their rightful owners. "No! These can't fail!" Another pop as his other pinky ring gets overwhelmed and more magic leaves, but this time there's a matching color peeling itself off from the wards. On and on, Fairweather's rings get destroyed by the non-stop attack. He tries to unload some of the magic by casting spells at Yuuri but purple magic is always there to replace it. More of the wards fail as the magic is released, until Fairweather's final, and biggest, ring shatters.

The world seems to explode. Loud, low rumbling from the crumbling walls match Fairweather's screams of rage as his magic fails and breaks to pieces all around him. The light from it is almost blinding. Many voices, including Phichit's, all yell an incantation and then it really is blinding.

Yuuri feels Victor hold onto him tighter, magically and physically shielding him from what he can. The reassurance of his warmth overtakes the fear trying to choke Yuuri.

The silence after rings in their ears. The castle is gone and the air is clear of oppressive magic. People around them shake off the debris that made it through the protection circles. Sitting beneath a tree a little bit away, a middle aged man with long hair waves.

At first, Yuuri thinks he's hallucinating. Phichit grins and shouts, "Thanks, Ciao Ciao!"

"Ciao Ciao?" Yuuri asks in shock. He hasn't seen the man in years. "I thought he was off doing a mission somewhere?"

Phichit hums. "He's the inside source. He posed as a butler for a while, which let him get information on the wards and put in his own. Ciao Ciao saw the lengths Fairweather was prepared to go and decided he needed help. So, here we are!" Phichit glances at the way Victor is still hanging off Yuuri like a monkey and slyly adds, "You even ended up getting Bonded. Minako and Mari are going to be so mad they weren't here to see it."

"Your teacher and your sister?" Victor interjects, looking puzzled. "Why would they care?"

"How are you doing that?" Yuuri asks before he can help himself. At Victor's even more confused look, he clarifies, "You knew my name, before. I didn't tell you. And you knew who Minako and Mari are just now."

"Oh. I am a fire bird, Yuuri. Our Bonding is more complete than some others, I suppose. I know everything about you." Victor smiles benignly while Yuuri has a minor heart attack.

"E-everything?" Yuuri asks, blushing up to his hairline.

"Yes."

"Can you hear my thoughts?"

"If they're strong enough. Like right now, you're scared that I know about your magic and the terrible thoughts you have about yourself." Victor grows serious, hand coming up to hold Yuuri's face. "No more of that, okay? You're wonderful and very powerful and I couldn't ask for a more perfect partner." Yuuri looks away but Victor merely leans in to rest his forehead on Yuuri's. "It's okay. We have a long time until our death day, there's no rush."

Phichit's eyes widen and he forces himself not to squeak. Instead, he covertly takes a picture with a small bit of magic. He's drained, yes, but the spell is low cost and very much worth it at the moment. Walking away, Phichit goes to check on the others. Baranovskaya is sitting up, back still ramrod straight, and being healed alongside Feltsman. Plisetsky hovers worriedly beside them and tries to act like he's not worried at all. The discrete hand Atlin is keeping on his back gives it away. Emil and Michele are tending to whoever needs help while Sara and a redhead, Mila Babicheva, Phichit thinks, gather up the defeated opposition. Watching Babicheva smile winningly at Sara while holding three mages above her head, purposefully showing off her strength, Phichit can't stop his laugh. So many Bonded in one place isn't unheard of, but two pairs meeting at the same battle is a little odd.

Phichit continues on and assists as needed until he reaches Celestino. "Thanks again, Ciao Ciao," he says. "This would have gone a lot worse than it did if you hadn't informed us."

"Ah, well. I simply told you what was going on. You're the one who managed to gather all these people." The older man grins, patting Phichit on the back. "I'm proud of you."

Returning the smile, Phichit looks back over at his friend and Victor. "So, Yuuri got Bonded. Sara, too."

"I was wondering why that purple magic felt familiar," Celestino says. "I knew he had potential but that was something else. What do you think of his Bonded?"

Phichit takes out the picture he took and shows him. "I think he'll be good for Yuuri. I know Yuuri's family is going to adore him at the very least."

"They'd love anyone who loves Yuuri."

Humming in agreement, Phichit swats jokingly at Celestino's arm. "Come on, we've been lazy enough. Let's go help out. We can grab the love birds on the way."