Misunderstandings
Twelve men sat around a table in a darkened room. Ten of the aforementioned men looked quite alarmed that there were actually twelve of them present.
"Sun, you're always skimping out on your duties, but for once you're attending the weekly meeting? And on time, too! The Church must be in dire peril!" blurted out Metal upon seeing the rare sight.
The man who stood at the head of the table was indeed the Sun Knight who led the Holy Temple's knights, as well as the entirety of the Church of the God of Light. He took his seat directly beside the looming figure of the Judgment Knight, who was the only other person not surprised by the Sun Knight's presence.
The Sun Knight's eternally dazzling smile twitched for less than half a second at Metal's shocked proclamation, but upon seeing that minute twist of their leader's lips, the rest of the Twelve Holy Knights knew they would all soon suffer for Metal's slip of the tongue.
"My brothers, the God of Light has called Sun to be present today to share with you all a message of momentous import. A few days ago, as Sun awoke beneath the gracious rays of the God of Light, he found himself called upon to meet with the Silent Eagle from the Cathedral of the Shadow God, who had recently arrived and wished to meet with Sun. Truly, the God of Light himself must have been directing Sun's actions, to have timed his awakening so well…"
The Sun Knight's speech rambled on and on, touching upon such important topics as who he greeted on his way to meet with Silent Eagle, what he had for breakfast along the way… it was obvious that Sun at least was enjoying his revenge against Metal's thoughtless speech, but the rest of the Twelve Holy Knights wished he would just get to the point already.
But when Sun stopped expounding on meaningless details and his gleaming smile switched to a serious expression, the irritated atmosphere quickly dissipated from the room. Eleven knights leaned forward in anticipation of the Sun Knight's words.
"Sun has learned a great deal about the Silent Eagle's purpose for being here on that day. After consulting with Knight-Captain Judgment, the two of us have decided this information must be shared with our brothers in the Twelve Holy Knights. But, you must swear not to reveal what you learn here to anyone else! Do you all understand?"
They nodded. Whatever was happening here, it was serious enough to warrant a consultation with Judgment! Considering the usual attitude of their Sun Knight who was always running off in secret to get himself nearly killed, whatever it was must be unbelievably dangerous.
Sun began his story. "I have recently been informed that the next demon king will be born here in Leaf Bud City…"
The Twelve Holy Knights sat still as Sun explained the origin of the demon king, and his purpose in keeping the world's elements in balance. He went on further to the method by which the demon king would be born, and the three candidates who would fight for the position. In the following months, he told them, the Church of the God of Light would be called upon to see that the citizens remained safe even as the candidates made their moves.
Furtively, a few knights glanced at one another across the table. It was certainly unsettling news, but what could warrant the need for secrecy? Surely the rest of the holy knights needed to know what was going on so they could better protect the people of Leaf Bud City?
As Sun finished his exposition on the Demon King, he unexpectedly continued in a low voice, "As for the three candidates who are capable of becoming the Demon King, though the location of two candidates remains unknown… one has been sheltered here in the Church of the God of Light for the past ten years. This is a secret unknown even to the Silent Eagle from the Cathedral of the Shadow God!"
No one missed the Judgment Knight tensing as Sun said these words, and a wave of understanding passed through the room. An uncomfortable silence followed.
Leaf was the first to speak up. "Don't worry, Sun! We won't let you become the Demon King!"
Sun whipped his head around to face Leaf, mouth agape. Blaze spoke up before the Sun Knight could say anything, one fist hitting the table with an impassioned bang. "Yeah, you're our Sun Knight! No one can take you away from us, not even if you did become the Demon King! … Which you won't!"
A chorus of agreements rang out from the rest of the Twelve Holy Knights.
"Don't worry, Sun. We'll keep you safe from those other candidates."
"I knew there had to be some reason Sun is the way he is… but it's not like that changes anything!"
"No matter how many schemes you hatch, you're still our Sun Knight, after all!"
Ice even reached over to give Sun a pat on the shoulder in reassurance. The Sun Knight's body trembled beneath Ice's cool hand.
Judgment's shoulders lost whatever tenseness they had, and he was now suppressing a smile beneath one hand. Even the terrifying visage of the Judgment Knight's smile couldn't dampen the spirits of the Twelve Holy Knights, however, and they continued to shower reassurances upon their Sun Knight.
Finally, said Sun Knight could take it no longer. Eye twitching, he shouted, "Shut up! Who ever said I was the one who was the demon king candidate!"
The ensuing silence was more uncomfortable than the one following Sun's initial revelation by an entire order of magnitude.
Judgment finally could hold in his mirth no longer. He burst out into deep, booming guffaws of laughter, as the other Twelve Holy Knights looked on, helplessly lost.
"You're not the demon king candidate?" asked Earth, with a look of mock contrition on his face. "But I can't think of anyone more suited for it than our devious Sun Knight."
The rest unconsciously nodded in agreement, even Judgment in between his more now more subdued chuckles.
Brow furrowed like he wished nothing more than to summon thunderbolts upon the entire room, Sun growled, "It's. Not. Me. The demon king candidate is Knight-Captain Judgment."
At once, the whole room swiveled to face the Judgment Knight, who had finally managed to school his expression into one more befitting of his station.
He stared back at the rest unflinchingly.
Stone turned back to Sun, and said, "Sun, you and Judgment don't need to try to trick us. We'll continue to support you no matter what."
Sun's increasingly strained smile dropped into an outright scowl. "I told you, it's not me! It's Judgment!"
"Whatever trouble you're getting into, you can count on us," Leaf said earnestly. "Don't try to mislead us again, okay, Sun?"
Hell nodded solemnly with Leaf's words and told Sun, "There is no need to take everything upon yourself. Even if you are a demon king candidate, you are still the same Grisia Sun we care about."
"Would you all just listen to me? I'm not a demon king candidate, damn it!"
It was at this point that Cloud emerged from wherever he had been to hand Sun a book on the history of demon kings past. No one had even noticed the Cloud Knight leaving the room to retrieve the book from the library.
Sun accepted it wordlessly, before realizing what it was and throwing the heavy tome down on the table with force. "What will it take for you idiots to believe me?" he roared.
It was at this point that Judgment cut in, having been unable to speak for some time due to a second fit of breathless laughter. "It seems that your track record for honestly as of late hasn't been the cleanest, Sun," he said with a straight face. "But as for the truth of this matter, I can confirm that the demon king candidate is not Sun, but myself. After Sun learned of the events to come in the next few months, he came to me because he knew I would be deeply involved in them."
The other ten of the Twelve Holy Knights finally took these words at face value now that they had been confirmed by Judgment, leaving Sun to grumble about how 'the one who should be most believed among the Twelve Holy Knights should be the Sun Knight who leads the group, right'? But no one paid attention to Sun's muttered complaints.
The story was told quickly, as the Judgment Knight lacked both Sun's eloquence and his willingness to dive into inane details for the sake of annoying his colleagues.
He had been an orphan, Judgment explained, until the day he had been adopted by a demoness and her 'little sister', who had in truth been a lich determined to see Lesus become the Demon King in the future.
Becoming the Judgment Knight had been a stroke of good fortune, initiated by an (un)lucky encounter with a young Grisia Lucen, who aspired to become the Sun Knight. He'd nagged and cajoled a bewildered Lesus into buying him pies, defending him from bullies, and somewhere along the way, into eventually becoming the Judgment Knight.
Only after Lesus had been accepted as the Judgment Knight candidate did certain truths come out, and his teacher negotiated with the lich Scarlet to allow Lesus to remain in the Church, after extracting a promise of protection for the child should Lesus Judgment become the Demon King.
For ten years, the only ones who knew the truth were Lesus, his teacher, the lich, and the two Sun Knights of the Church.
"But now that the time of the Demon King's birth is upon us, we decided it was time the rest of you learned the full story," Judgment concluded.
As the Twelve Holy Knights processed the story, Moon stood up. The knights still seated watched him warily as he strode in the direction of the doorway, but rather than leaving, Moon took a stalwart standing position by Judgment's side.
"It doesn't matter whether it's the Sun Knight or the Judgment Knight; the Twelve Holy Knights will never abandon the Twelve Holy Knights!" he declared, chin raised and arms crossed.
A hearty cheer rose from the room at large. Both warm and cold factions stood as one and vowed they would protect their Judgment Knight from whatever troubles may come their way.
They didn't even flinch as Judgment grinned the largest, silliest, and ugliest smile he'd ever given in his life.
"After all," muttered Storm to himself, "if the Judgment Knight ever left to become the Demon King, there wouldn't be anyone who could stop the Sun Knight from running wild and driving us all mad with paperwork!"
Sun magnanimously decided not to hear his beleaguered brother's mumblings, opting instead to throw a genuine smile in Judgment's direction. He knew his best friend of ten years would be able to tell.
Now that all the misunderstandings had been settled, all was right in the world.
At least, it was until the time of Sun and Judgment's usual bathroom meeting.
"Those guys were just too much back there," Sun moaned over Judgment's dry heaves. "Why would everyone think I was the demon king candidate? I can't even use the dark element! They'd better prepare themselves for my revenge…"
Judgment was silent for some time, thinking over his potential answers carefully. He did not want to make himself one of Sun's targets, after all.
Then his head jerked up from the bucket as he realized, "If even the Twelve Holy Knights believed you were the candidate, then is it possible that someone else may have come to the same incorrect conclusion? For example, the Silent Eagle who was acting unusually deferential towards you earlier?"
The Sun Knight thought it over. Then started to curse profusely.
End
Poor Sun – but who could blame the others for thinking he'd be the demon king candidate? I mean, Judgment's got the looks down pat, but as for the personality…
So in this reality, Lesus and Grisia were basically born with each other's backstories, but somehow ended up walking the same paths in life as in canon.
There are quite a few differences in events compared to canon (for example, Lesus' teacher actually cut a reasonable deal with Scarlet rather than charging in with sword in hand like Neo). Even in this scene, without the amnesia scare and Scarlet's undead minions running around the city, things are much less hectic for the Twelve Holy Knights. Sun probably isn't even blind here.
But overall, everything generally turned very similar to canon. At least, enough for this one-shot!