The main inspiration for this fic was Terraria. My friend and I saw patch 1.2 and checked it out, and we discovered that Ice Block cathedrals are a grand and wonderful thing. Unfortunately, the effort involved in making one is daunting to those who don't want to bother with the digging. My friend mentioned that we should enslave zombies and make them dig for us, and that's how this fanfiction got started. The decision to populate it with anime characters was made by the rest of my Terraria group, who thought it was a good idea, so here this is. Sorry again if this isn't the best _O/TL
Cross-posted to AO3
I wish I owned Free!, Terraria, K!, and Psycho-Pass, but sadly I do not.
Reisi Munakata darts forward, the length of his blade gleaming in the afternoon sunlight, the tip inches from his counterpart's chest as the Blue King pumps all his power into this one stroke that cannot fail. Mikoto Suoh takes no notice of this, his golden eyes fixated on the heavens that he will soon be exploring.
Had the Red King been looking his counterpart in the eye, he would've noticed something out of place, something not normally found in the heart of the head of Scepter 4- hesitation. Munakata falters in his step as he presses forward, the tip of his saber now just inches from his friend's chest-
And the heavens explode in violet light as Reisi pulls up short of his target and thrusts his sword arm to the sky, screaming a frantic battle cry; if this fails, not only will he and Suoh be dead, but everyone else for miles around. Suoh turns away, blinded by the sudden aurora taking place overhead, as opposite him the Blue King collapses, grabbing his sword arm. A split second later, both Kings are thrown violently into the treeline by a blast that shakes even the clouds, followed by an even more violent series of tremors.
Suoh is the first one on his feet, using a strong wooden trunk to keep himself steady as the last of the tremors fade away. He sees a mop of blue hair across the clearing and begins to limp his way toward it. "Munakata!" he seethes, more to himself than to the other. Despite the fatigue weighing heavily on his limbs, he makes it across the clearing- which he notices has been cleared of snow by the force of the blast- and nudges the blue-haired man with his foot.
Munakata rolls over, his head still ringing painfully, wondering why Suoh is so inconsiderately kicking the man who saved his life. "Still ungrateful, eh?" he rasps through parched lips.
"You couldn't even let me die?" the Red King rages. "Here I am, satisfied with everything, and you can't even let me die?"
"You're selfish." Munakata regains his feet, pressing his lips together as soon as his clipped admonition is done. Suoh notices blood leaking through the blue cloth of Munakata's jacket, rivulets of red that trace scarlet lines down the other's arm. The sight quells his anger, if only for a moment.
"So are you," Suoh mutters lazily. "For keeping me alive." Those four words re-ignite his rage, and he grabs the injured man by the collar and pins him up against a nearby tree. "What were you playing at, Munakata? Tell me!" He raises a hand next to Munakata's face and calls for his power, but his trademark red flames do not flicker into existence. The Red King glances at his hand in disbelief, denial beginning to spread from his eyes down to every part of his being.
Munakata falls to the snow in an uncoordinated heap, but Suoh doesn't take the time to savor the sight. He falls, howling his grief to the skies, calling over and over in his mind for power that refuses to answer his summons. The Blue King deduces this in a matter of seconds, and out of the corner of his eye Suoh sees him gesturing, as if trying to call forth his own essence.
Nothing. Munakata's eyes widen behind his spectacles and he scrambles in the snow for his sword, lying five meters away amidst the trees. He leaves a bloody red trail in the ice where he crawls. The Blue King grasps his weapon with his good arm and stares at it, willing it to blaze with azure. The metal remains a gleaming silver.
Violet eyes meet amber in a moment of shock that brings both men to their knees, where their power, their power, no longer answers to them.
Suoh moves first, like he always does, and begins a silent hobble towards the bridge. Munakata stares at him for a second before sheathing his sword and turning away to face the ocean. He cleans his glasses, adorned with flecks of melted snow, and goes to adjust them on his face when he freezes. "Suoh. Suoh! You need to see-"
"What is it?" The Red King turns, eyes glimmering with annoyance, and he looks at Munakata's outstretched hand and pointing finger. "What's so special about the-" Suoh takes one glance in the direction his counterpart is pointing and his mouth goes slack. "The ocean," he finishes in a hushed tone.
"Yes," Munakata murmurs in reply. He refuses to believe what he's seeing; maybe Awashima can do a few tests once they get back to Scepter 4 headquarters. Suoh is thinking along the same lines, of perhaps getting Kusanagi to close up the bar and help his King decipher these twisted lines. The two Kings nod to each other, a mutual farewell, and pad off into the forest to seek their own ways back to their Clans.
They leave at their backs a crater, a massive grave for the power of four Kings. They leave in their wake a wide spread of trees thrown down like toothpicks by the powers unleashed. And they leave behind an ocean, glittering like crystal in the light of the sun, frozen over at the surface and, perhaps, even further beneath, stretching like grasping fingers in every direction.