Chapter Text
“Yuuri, come watch Swan Lake with me!” Mari shook Yuuri’s arm, then slightly tugged to try and go in the direction of the TV.
“Swan Lake? Seriously? Why can’t we watch another Barbie movie?” Yuuri complained, his body going slightly limp to try to dissuade his sister from moving him. His sister had always loved Barbie movies, so of course, he watched them with her. Whether he wanted to or not, he watched all of them at least a dozen times. Honestly, it’s not that he didn’t like them, it’s just that after watching them so many times you start to get a bit tired of them. There were two movies he refused to watch though, and those were The Nutcracker and Swan Lake. He was all too aware that they were already SO overdone in ballet, he didn’t need to be reminded of it again in his spare time. He loved ballet, but again, everyone needs a little variety.
“Come on, it’s so good though! And it’s not even really like the actual ballet! Pleeeaaaase? For me?” Mari pleaded, giving one last tug to Yuuri’s arm. Yuuri turned his head, refusing to give in to his sister’s begging. This happened every couple of months, where Mari cycled through her movies until once again, either the Nutcracker or Swan Lake appeared. There was no convincing her into a different movie, especially if it wasn’t another Barbie movie. He had to stand his ground against her.
“Ugh, you’re no fun,” Mari groaned and left to go watch her movie. Yuuri sighed and walked to his room, finally free from his sister.
~ * ~
The studio was a place of beauty and fear. Sweat, tears, and blood are what shape you into a top ballet dancer. Ms. Minako had prepared him for this. He had already been a part of the New York City ballet for quite some time, but every time he performed it felt less like something he loved and more like something he HAD to do. Yuuri could feel the quality of his dancing starting to slip, and it aggravated him to no end. But New York City Ballet was inviting Mariinsky Ballet to perform Swan Lake with them, this was something big. He had to be a part of it if he wanted to make a name for himself. It also helped that Victor Nikiforov was a part of the Russian ballet company and most likely going to audition as well. It was a dream come true to have the chance to perform on the same stage as Victor, and he wasn’t going to let a little burnout stop him. Hopefully.
Yuuri gripped his water bottle. Today was the day they found out who got cast as what. Yuuri couldn’t stand to wait with everyone, the anticipatory energy was just too much. Given that, he and Phichit were back at their apartment waiting to get a picture of the cast list sent to the group chat Phichit was in with a couple of other dancers. But of course, just because Yuuri was away from everyone didn’t mean that he wasn’t anxious as hell. Thankfully, Phichit was there with him like a buoy in a storm. Phichit tried to act like he wasn’t ready to jump to his phone the moment he got a text to try and appear calm for Yuuri’s sake, but Yuuri noticed that his hands were fidgeting with his phone. Phichit had also been trying to talk about anything he could to think about something else. Yuuri took a quick swig from his water, his leg jittering up and down. He groaned and got up.
“I can’t keep sitting like this, I have to get up-”
A ding rang out and Yuuri quickly sat back down as Phichit unlocked his phone. Yuuri leaned against Phichit as they looked at the image that was sent. He scanned through the names, really looking for his friend’s name rather than his own. He smiled when he saw that Phichit was cast as one of the swan ensemble. He was about to congratulate him when he finally spotted his name. He expected that if he got in, it would also be as part of the swan ensemble. What he was not expecting was seeing his name next to the part labeled as “Odette”.
“Hah! Wow, you’re gonna be perfect as Odette! Has the company ever cast a guy for a woman’s part before? That’s so cool though, congrats Yuuri!” Phichit wrapped one arm around Yuuri and squeezed. Yuuri was still in shock. He really got the lead? Moving as a woman was something he’d never tried before, but he wasn’t averse to it. But still, the lead? A mixture of dread and excitement washed over Yuuri, he wasn’t quite sure what to think.
“Ohhh, I wonder who the prince is then!” Phichit squinted at the picture that was sent to him, then said, “I don’t see the prince listed here, so they probably gave the role to a Mariinsky dancer. Lemme ask if someone can get a picture of the Mariinsky cast list.” Yuuri blinked as he came back to reality. He wasn’t the only lead in this story, whoever was playing the prince was going to have a big impact on how much he enjoyed this ballet. Yuuri mumbled, “Knowing my luck, it’s probably going to be JJ, even though he’s not even at Mariinsky…”
“Holy shit. Yuuri, it's Victor.” Phichit looked over to Yuuri. Phichit’s phone was dinging like crazy now, but Yuuri suddenly couldn’t think. The prince is? Victor? Huh? Victor? As in the Victor that he’s idolized since he was a child? THAT Victor? Phichit laughed as he watched his friend try to compute what was going on. He squeezed him again and pulled both of them off the couch. Yuuri dazedly said, “This isn’t happening.”
“You made it man! So when’s the wedding? Are you looking for a fall or winter setting? Ohh, maybe it could be in between your guys’ birthdays! Sometime in December when it’s nice and snowy for sure-” Phichit prattled on before being grabbed by a tomato-red Yuuri.
“Please, please stop, one mind-melting thing at a time please,” He pleaded. Yuuri recognized the look in Phichit’s eye, the one that said he would’ve kept rambling until somehow they were both embarrassed, Yuuri even more so than he already was. If he didn’t stop him, they both would have suffered. “Sorry, you know how I like to get ahead of myself. Let’s make dinner and then you can sleep on this wonderful news, hm? Let’s get these hands moving!” Phichit grinned. Yuuri suddenly felt like he hadn’t been fed a day in his life. He also hadn’t realized that he was fidgeting with his own phone until Phichit had said something. Yuuri gratefully took Phichit up on his offer.
After laughing off some of his nervous energy with Phichit and eating his fill, Yuuri snuggled into bed. He finally realized how tired he was. He took a deep breath and let his muscles relax, letting sleep wash over him like the tide. He never thought he could fall asleep so easily, especially after receiving such big news. But even so, Yuuri quickly felt himself drift away.
“Yuuuuuri! C’mon, wake up and help us set up shop!” His mother’s voice rang through the air. Yuuri frowned a bit and rolled over in his bed. He felt like he had only just fallen asleep, how was it already time to wake up? He yawned, then realized he had just heard his mother’s voice . His eyes snapped open. What was his mom doing in New York? Wasn’t he in New York? Yuuri put on his glasses and scrambled out of bed. He didn’t recognize his room. Where was he, if not in his apartment with Phichit or at home in Japan? Thoroughly confused, he rushed out of his room to find a small bakery. His mom was setting up some bread in the window and his Dad was mixing up something in a bowl.
“There you are! You sure slept late, I was getting a bit nervous! Change out of your pajamas and come help us, okay?” His mom teased. Yuuri stood there dumbfounded. He truly didn’t recognize anything about this bakery, he didn’t even recognize anything outside. It was like an old European-ish town with people milling about like it was any other day. Yuuri’s parents kept working as if everything was fine too, much to his dismay. Eventually, he slowly turned around and walked back to his room. He shut the door and paused, once again trying to make sense of everything going on.
Ok. A bakery. Where his apartment with Phichit was supposed to be. With his mom and dad in it. Alright. Ok.
What the fuck.
Yuuri took a deep breath and started to look for a closet. Strangely, the room he found himself in felt somehow familiar to him. Now that he thought about it, it sort of resembled both his room in his apartment and his room in Japan. He didn’t know if he should feel comforted about that or even more weirded out. He found some clothes that he didn’t recognize as ever owning but did his best to look… decent, given the circumstances. He decided to go with a blue shirt with a couple of horizontal folds at the top and a darker blue vest over that. He put on some pants and black leather boots. He felt too formal to just help out in the bakery, but from what he saw when he had glanced outside, that’s what everyone seemed to wear. He walked back out into the bakery. Then his sister walked in through the front door.
“Hey, you’re finally up. Thought you could skip helping us by holing up in your room, huh? You know better than that.” Mari leaned against the door frame. Yuuri froze up a bit. How could he respond in a way that would sound like he wasn’t extremely out of his element here?
“Ha, right, sorry. Um, what uh, what should I do?” He chuckled lightly. When he asked this, he looked to his parents as well.
“You’re on cookie duty with Dad. He’s got some sugar cookies in the oven,” Mari nodded in the direction of their dad. His parents and sister started to talk to each other, but Yuuri wasn’t paying attention anymore. He was staring in the direction of the oven. He started to walk over to them when he blinked and suddenly the cookies looked different. Yuuri shook his head slightly.
“I’m heading out again, I’ll be back by lunch!” Mari called out as the door closed behind her. Yuuri watched through the window as Mari climbed on a horse and quickly rode off. His dad then walked over to where Yuuri was, a soft smile on his face as he turned to watch Mari ride off as well. “She rides like the wind, doesn’t she? Anyways,” He turned back around and handed Yuuri a pair of oven mitts, “Go put these on the cooling rack over there. They’re chocolate chip, you’re favorite! You can take one as long as your mom doesn’t see you,” He winked.
Yuuri realized he would probably never truly make any sense of this. There was too much going on and it was probably best if he just rolled with the punches. He nodded and did as he was told. He brought the cookies to where the rest of the cookies were being displayed. He looked out of the window and confirmed that it really was like he had gone back in time. Not a car was in sight and everyone was dressed strangely. He glanced back at his mom to see that she was rolling out some dough. If he was going to be here, he might as well take advantage of this situation as best he can. He quickly took off his gloves and grabbed a warm cookie. As he bit into it he savored the flavor of chocolate, his mom called out, “Yuuri, you better not be getting into our inventory!”
He smiled a bit. Even if he didn’t know if these people were his actual family, it was nice to know that they at least acted like them somewhat. He quickly ate the rest of the cookie and wiped away the crumbs. He turned around and held out his hands to try and show that he couldn’t possibly be guilty of eating anything. His mom raised an eyebrow at him. She wiped the flour off her hands with a towel and said, “Go fix up the sign out in front of the shop, we don’t have any more cornbread. Then you can keep helping your dad, okay?”
Yuuri felt a bit more relaxed now. As long as he didn’t think too hard about his situation, he felt okay. He stepped outside, the warm air hitting his skin. It was weird to see the road made of cobblestone, and there were so many horses . Merchants were walking along the streets and calling out to people, wooden carts in tow.
Just as he was about to squat down to change the sign his family had, he squinted at something in the distance. He had his glasses, thankfully, but there was no way he was seeing correctly. Was that a unicorn? A crowd quickly gathered to follow the unicorn as it ran through the streets. Some men were trying to follow it, so Yuuri was a bit relieved that other people could see the unicorn as well. The unicorn got closer and closer to where Yuuri was, until it trotted up to him, just out of arm’s reach. What else was in this world if a unicorn could just waltz into a town? Was magic a normal thing here? Or just unicorns? They stared at each other for a bit before the unicorn continued along the road, leaving Yuuri with more questions than answers. Another man ahead of the unicorn tried to catch it with a rope, but the unicorn quickly dodged and ran into the alley next to the bakery. The group of men finally caught up to where Yuuri was. One pulled out a bow and arrow. Yuuri’s eyes widened as he realized what the archer was about to do.
“Don’t shoot, you’ll hurt it!” Yuuri exclaimed right before the archer let the arrow loose. Yuuri ran over to see that the unicorn almost looked like it was grinning. Then it was off once again. He watched as the unicorn spotted someone hauling a cart of apples. The unicorn nickered and charged at the cart, kicking it over and sending the townsmen who were following it fleeing. The unicorn seemed to grin and strutted around as if celebrating before another man threw a rope around its neck.
“I caught it! A real unicorn! This should fetch a pretty price!” The man shouted as he pulled the rope, tugging the unicorn to the ground. “Stop!” Yuuri shouted as he started to run closer to the scene. He had only taken a couple of steps when the unicorn got up and bolted towards an ax that was lodged into some wood. It maneuvered the rope to go taught against the blade’s edge. The rope snapped and sent the man flying into a cart filled with vegetables, much to the delight of both the unicorn and the townspeople. The rope still hung around the unicorn’s neck though, with enough length to even drag on the ground. The unicorn traveled back around and found itself in front of the bakery again. Yuuri stared at the unicorn, unsure again if this was really happening. The unicorn seemed to scoff, then ran off to the forest. Before it could get too far, the rope that still hung off its neck caught on some brush. It strained a bit but was able to break free. Yuuri couldn’t help but feel like he had to make sure the unicorn was all right as it traveled. He wanted to take off the rope the unicorn had at the very least. He glanced around, wringing his hands nervously. He shouldn’t be gone long, it should be fine, right? Yuuri shook his hands a bit and then followed the unicorn.
Deeper and deeper they ran into the forest, but so far the unicorn hadn’t gotten caught on anything else. Because of that, it was a lot farther ahead than Yuuri. He wasn’t even sure if the unicorn knew he was there. After a bit, the unicorn started to cross a tree log that had lodged itself over a chasm. The makeshift bridge connected to a couple of large rocks that were partly hidden by a waterfall. The unicorn started crossing the bridge, which gave Yuuri a chance to peer far down to the bottom of the chasm. He took a step back just because of the sheer height of the drop. That’s when the unicorn’s rope caught on a twig on the side of the log. It tried to tug on the rope when it fell to its stomach.
“Hold on!” Yuuri called out to the unicorn as he started to quickly cross the bridge. The unicorn then seemed to snort at Yuuri before picking itself up and trotting away before he could get too close. As the unicorn walked away, Yuuri was now in the middle of the bridge and realized that he was looking down again at the height. He faltered and looked back up at the unicorn. It had already made its way across the bridge and was standing in front of the large rocks. It looked back to Yuuri, then looked back at the rocks. Its horn started to glow and it tapped it against the largest rock. The rock moved over to show an entrance to a cave behind it. The unicorn trotted in and left Yuuri behind. The rock started to move back and Yuuri’s eyes widened. Before he could think about what he was doing, he ran the rest of the length of the log and into the cave right before the rock closed behind him.
The cave he was now in was damp and had water on the sides of the path he was on. The end of the cave opened into more land, but it was too bright to see everything right away. When he got to the other side, he saw a beautiful lake with lush willow trees on the bank. There were a couple of waterfalls on the other side of the lake. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. The unicorn let out a whine that pulled Yuuri back to why he was there. Following the direction of the sound, he soon found the unicorn caught in some twigs. Cautiously approaching it, he said, “Easy, hold still.”
“Easy for you to say!” The unicorn retorted.
Yuuri took a step back before replying, “Wait, you-you talk?”
“Obviously. Now quit standing around and help me get this thing off me,” The unicorn rolled its eyes. Yuuri closed his mouth and then opened it again. The unicorn sighed, “Ugh, never mind, I’ll do it myself.”
It pulled on the rope, trying to untangle it as it had done before, but it only choked the unicorn. “OW!”
“Hang on, I’ll uh, I’ll find something to cut you loose,” Yuuri stumbled over his words. The unicorn panted a bit, seeming to have lost some of its sass because of the pain. It grumbled, “Right. You do that.”
Yuuri wandered away, looking for anything even remotely sharp. He felt like that should’ve been relatively easy in a forest, but it was surprisingly empty. As he looked around, he found a huge tree that had a strange shine coming from it. Curious, he walked closer to find a dazzling gem. He frowned. It was a beautiful gem, but it definitely wasn’t natural. It looked too polished, and last time he checked, gems don’t come from trees. At least he didn’t think. Yuuri glanced around, trying again to find anything else that looked like it had a sharp edge. Finding nothing, he turned back to the gem and reached out to it. His fingers dug around the crystal. He tried to be mindful of the fragility of the gem, so he tugged as gently as he could. Surprisingly, though, the crystal came out with little force. Yuuri had seen crystals and gems in jewelry stores before and marveled at them, but they were nothing compared to the gem he now had in his hand. It was a beautiful pink that reminded him of spring back in Hasetsu. A pang of homesickness shot through him. He rocked the gem back and forth, watching how the sun made shapes through the gem on the ground. It shined like nothing he had ever seen before. He walked back to the unicorn and held out the gem, preparing to cut the rope. This unicorn’s eyes widened upon seeing the gem, and this time it was the unicorn’s turn to gape at Yuuri.
“How did you get that?” The unicorn exclaimed.
Yuuri shrugged and replied, “I just found it in that tree over there, it was already loose.” The unicorn did not appear to be happy with that answer, however.
“Loose? What do you mean loose ? You just pulled it out?” The unicorn looked somewhat furious, but also almost as confused as Yuuri was.
Yuuri readjusted his grip on the gem and said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to take it out. I’ll put it back right away once I’m done.”
The gem cut the rope easily, and it slid off the unicorn. Its expression was now a bit calmer, but the unicorn also seemed to be looking past Yuuri. When he turned around to go and return the gem, he saw a beautiful figure floating toward him. It almost looked like…Yuuko? She was wearing a beautiful purple dress along with a crown that was braided into her hair. She was holding what looked like a wand, and she was practically glowing. Or maybe she actually was glowing. Six little orbs of light were floating next to her head as well.
“Why was he able to get the crystal? What’s so special about him?” The unicorn nodded in Yuuri’s direction.
Yuuri looked between the two dumbfounded before he said, “I’m, I’m sorry, I’ll put it back!”
“It’s ok. We’ve been waiting for you for a long time, actually. But first, thank you for helping Yuri over here.” she nodded towards the unicorn. Then she turned to the unicorn and cocked her head to the side, “And you! You know how dangerous it is to go into the human world! A creature from the Enchanted Forest can be-”
“What, you think I would’ve let myself be killed? You have no faith in me, I swear. I can handle myself out there, I know I can,” The unicorn, er, Yuri, rolled his eyes. He bowed his head a little at the reprimand but tried to keep up his nonchalant attitude. Yuuko sighed and said, “What am I going to do with you?”
“I just wanted to help. I thought maybe I could find something to fight that shi- ahem, bird-brain,” Yuri replied.
Yuuko sighed before turning back to Yuuri. “What’s your name?”
“Katsuki Yuuri,” Yuuri said. Yuuko smiled.
“Yuuri, do you know what you’re holding?”
“I was just going to return it! I just wanted to help the unic- I mean, Yuri.”
“It’s alright. The magic crystal belongs to you now.” Yuuko’s smile as she spoke was even prettier than Yuuri remembered. He shook his head slightly when he realized that she had said it was a magic crystal. Yuuri looked down at the gem he was holding. That answers at least one question that was in the back of his mind. But it also raised several more.
“It belongs to him ? How is this loser gonna help us?” Yuri scoffed.
As insulting as the unicorn was, Yuuri also had no confidence in himself to solve whatever he was being flung into. He spoke up and said, “You really must have me confused for someone else.”
Yuuri was going to explain his situation when Yuuko took his hands into her own, “Long ago, my cousin Rothbart used to live in the Enchanted Forest with us. When our uncle, the King, had to choose a successor, he chose me instead of Rothbart. He was furious and stormed out of the forest. For a while, everyone lived happily here. But Rothbart returned with his daughter Odile, now a master of the dark arts.”
Yuuri frowned at the names. They sounded like the villains in Swan Lake. Surely it was a coincidence though, right? Why would they be in a world like this?
Yuuko continued, “Rothbart started taking over the forest little by little. I tried to force him to leave, but his powers were frightening in strength. My elves and faeries tried to stop him as well, but he captured them and turned them into animals. He forced them to build a mansion for him where he now resides. With every prisoner he gains, his powers only grow stronger.”
Yuuko looked sullen, her body glowing a little dimmer and she slightly curled into herself. It was obvious how distraught she was about losing her subjects.
Before she could speak again though, Yuri interrupted her with a mocking voice, “But now that you’re here…” Both Yuuko and the unicorn looked at Yuuri this time.
“I don’t understand,” Yuuri said nervously and looked between the two in bewilderment.
Yuuko sighed gently, “It’s been foretold that the person who frees the crystal will save the forest and free everyone from Rothbart. But no one has been able to pull the crystal out of its place. Until today.”
“It’s you! Our savior has come at last!” a familiar voice called out. Yuuri looked down and saw a group of animals scampering towards the three of them. There was a wolf puppy, a hamster, a young bear, a chick, a fox kit, and a young rabbit. The hamster scurried over to Yuuri’s foot and hugged him. Something seemed so familiar about the hamster somehow. Yuuri’s eyes widened as he connected the familiar voice to his friend’s favorite animal. Phichit?
“I wouldn’t put my faith in him. Like he could ever stand up to that bird. Plus we can’t have two “Yuri”s, it would just get too confusing” Yuri stated, a bit huffy. The hamster backed away and looked between Yuuri and Yuri.
“Y’know that would be confusing…let’s call you Yurio then!” Phichit exclaimed, pointing to the unicorn.
The other animals started snickering. Yurio stomped his hoof on the ground and shouted, “Hey! Why do I get the nickname when I was here before him!?”
This of course only made the group giggle more. The fox said, “I think it fits you, Yurio !”
Yurio huffed and retorted, “You hag, I’m gonna-”
“Wait!” Yuuri shouted. The elves and Yuuko all looked at Yuuri. “I’m sorry, but there’s really no way I can be the guy you’re looking for. I’m…I’m not even from this world,” Yuuri pleaded. Surely since they regularly dealt with magic, they would understand his predicament, right? This was all so much for him, he just woke up in this world and now all of these people were relying on him? There was no way he could go through with this.
Yuuko tentatively asked, “What do you mean? Are you not from the human world?”
“I am, just not this human world. I’ve never dealt with unicorns or people turning elves into animals! I didn’t even know magic was real until I woke up in this strange new world this morning,” Yuuri said. It felt weird to admit this out loud. He just needed someone to understand him, though. Yuuri continued, “I wish I could help, but I need to find a way home. To my real home.”
“Tch. I knew he wouldn’t help,” Yurio scoffed.
Yuuko held out her hand to him, “Yuri please, this must be extremely stressful for him. Especially if he’s never dealt with something even slightly magical before. We can’t force him to do anything, either. You know the dangers are enormous.” Yurio rolled his eyes again but remained quiet.
“I’m sorry I got all of your hopes up. I have to find a way home though, not to mention the family I have here. Honestly, they’re probably looking for me right now,” Yuuri apologized. Were people looking for him back in his world? Did they even know he was gone? His family here must be looking for him though, he was only supposed to be gone for a minute or two. He handed the gem back to Yuuko. There was really nothing he could do.
Yuuko replied, “It’s ok, we understand. Yuri can show you the way back.”
Yurio looked up in surprise but didn’t say anything. Yuuri started to head back the way he and Yurio came but paused to wait for Yurio to catch up to him. Yurio had trotted over to Yuuko and murmured something to her. He seemed annoyed but still did what Yuuko told him to do. Yurio quickly came over to where Yuuri was and they started on their way.