"It's such a nice night, so I came up here to film the lights. They're so beautiful. My name's Tatara Totsuka. What's yours—"

An eerie laugh split the silence, and the horrifying ring of a gunshot cracked in Totsuka's ear. At first, he felt nothing. His body shook with the impact. Yes, something had definitely hit him. Hard enough for him to stagger backwards. Slowly, his senses came back to him, and his side began throbbing with an agonizing, searing pain. He hastily dropped the camera in his hand, falling to his knees and doubling over, wrapping his hand tightly around his midsection.

"Agh! Damn." He muttered, falling effortlessly to the ground. He found himself drowning in a feeling of hopelessness, and in a pool of his own blood.

What's happening? What is this? Did he just—

His thoughts were cut off by his body wracking with shuddering coughs, bringing the metallic taste of blood to his lips. Tears streamed down his face, dripping from his chin and mixing with his blood. He shifted his eyes downward, catching the sight of red. Not the beautiful red of his aura. This was the hideous sight of dark red blood. The sight of it, mixed in with the strong smell that washed over him, was almost too much. He resisted the urge to throw up, but instead mustered up the last of his strength, which was now flowing freely from his body, and reached for the PDA that had slipped from his pocket and landed a few inches away. He didn't have much time. He flinched as his eyes were flooded with the bright, luminescent light of his phone, and scrolled to the number of the only person he could think to talk to.

"Totsuka, what the hell do you want?"

Tatara took a deep breath, steadying his voice and forcing his usual note of optimism into his tone.

"Hey King!" He cheerily answered.

"What do you want? You know you should be at the bar by now. It's late." The red king's monotone voice came clearly through the PDA, sending a dagger through Totsuka's chest.

I'm sorry. I—

"I just wanted to talk to you. Am I not allowed to speak with my boyfriend?" He tried his best to sound as if he were jokingly offended. After a pause, he continued, pushing down the pain that threatened to force its way into his voice. "Honestly though, you should have come to see the lights with me. They're gorgeous."

Mikoto seemed to sigh on the other end, but his voice had a hint of amusement in it as he replied. "Is that it? Seriously, you call me for the stupidest things. You took that old camera with you right? Take some videos for me. We an sit down and watch them when you come back, and I'll try to go with next time 'kay?"

Totsuka almost choked on a sob, but once again steadied his voice and, with tears cascading down his face, and blood trailing from his mouth, he joyfully giggled and replied as cheerfully as he could.

"Of course! I'll take a lot of videos for you King!"

"Yeah, sure kid. Make it quick though. It's gettin' kinda lonely without you brightening up the place ya know?"

Totsuka couldn't stop himself this time. A gut wrenching sob tore itself from his chest, but he immediately shut his mouth, feeling his teeth click together, and the cry was abruptly cut short.

A suddenly concerned voice was heard from the PDA. "Totsuka?"

"I know. I'm sorry." He breathed a shaky sigh, trying to regain his composure and force the next words out. "I love you, King."

"Huh? Hey, Totsu—"

*click*

Tatara let his trembling fingers drop to the ground once more. He felt his body begin to go numb. His time was running short. He strained his eyes to clear his blurring vision, and finally caught sight of his attacker. A boy with brilliantly silver hair now stood over him with a smile that caused the remaining blood in his body to turn ice cold. As he leaned closer to Totsuka's face, he spoke in a low, eerie voice.

"I am the seventh king, the colorless king." He leaned back up, throwing his arms wide open as if to embrace the darkened sky that hung heavily over them. "Nice night you say? Yes it is." He suddenly pulled the gun back out from his jacket, pointing it at him just like he had before. Totsuka felt a spark of fear run along his spine. "A very nice night." And the shot rang out once again.

Mikoto sat in the now deserted bar, confused. His PDA sat loosely in his hand, threatening to drop if he tilted his hand any further towards the floor.

What was that all about? Was Totsuka—no, he couldn't have been.

It was impossible. Mikoto had never seen the boy cry. He constantly smiled, reassured everyone. He was like the sun. Now, it felt strange, eerie, wrong. The tone in Totsuka's voice just made him feel wrong. He felt as if a small part of his aura was slowly slipping from his body, weaving around his fingers, and then fading into dust. He'd never felt like this before. His aura, always steady, always powerful and destructive, now felt weak and thin.

"Izumo." He called out towards the dark hallway leading towards the back of the bar.

Minutes passed. Nothing. Until—

"Yeah, Mikoto? What's up?"

Kusanagi stumbled from the shadows, looking as if he hadn't slept in months. Damn, the man worked way too hard on this bar. Mikoto internally noted that he really had to talk to Izumo about taking less all nighters buying alcohol and cleaning the damn bottles and shit.

"Take Yata and go to this address. I'm sending it through to your phone."

Kusanagi just stared at Mikoto with a puzzled look.

"This late at night Mikoto? Why?"

The red king gave no response other than to look over his shoulder at the blonde bartender. The glint in the king's eyes, the sudden emotions that surfaced there, caused Kusanagi to stop. Without another word, he retreated to his room, shortly coming back with his phone to his ear, talking quietly, his tone edged with urgency.

"Look Yata, don't argue with me. I'm meeting you at your apartment in five minutes, be ready."

He hurriedly left, the bar door swinging closed behind him, and disappeared from sight.

The first thing I'm gonna do, he thought, when that reckless idiot gets back. I'm gonna tell him how reckless he is, and how much he scared the shit out of us! Then I'm gonna kiss him senseless.

But as the thought crossed Mikoto's mind, the smile he'd worn faded, and he got a strange feeling that he wouldn't have the chance to do such a thing. With an annoyed grumble, he fell sideways onto the couch and closed his eyes.

I've gotta ask Munakata about this damn aura sometime.

"So, why are we even going anyway? Isn't it just some old building? What's up there? Did Mikoto—"

"Yata, shut up!" Kusanagi snapped, cutting the redhead off. "I don't know why we're going, but Mikoto asked us to go, so stop asking questions and skate faster."

The tall bartender overtook the boy in long strides, Yata on his heels. An unsettling sense of eeriness and urgency drove him forward. He didn't hesitate as he reached the building and bounded up the steps, just barely hearing Yata drop his skateboard and call after him. As he reached the last step, he quickly scanned over the area until—

No…

Yata's voice sounded miles away, even though he could faintly feel the boy's hand on his shoulder.

"Mr. Kusanagi, what—"

He stopped abruptly as he followed the older man's line of sight, and Kusanagi felt Yata's hand grip tighter onto him, his whole body going rigid.

"Tatara!"

Yata's hand slipped from Kusanagi's shoulder as he rushed to their comrade's aid, falling to his knees and taking Totsuka's body in his arms. He slowly followed, and in one ear, he heard Yata's desperate cries, in the other, he listened to the ringing of his PDA, not remembering ever putting it to his ear, as he called 911.

"Fuck, who did this?" Yata demanded, tears stinging at his eyes.

Kusanagi's whole body froze as he caught the sound of a few shuddering breaths, undoubtedly from the young blonde boy who was now bleeding out in Yata's arms. Finally, he heard the answering machine begin on his phone, but was unable to answer as he realized something. A frail whisper, almost as if it was nothing more than the wind, reached him.

Tatara?

"It was, the colorless...king…"

Kusanagi quickly turned to look at the two, just in time to see Yata's eyes widen, and his body start to tremble.

"Tatara, are you saying another king did this? Is that true?"

"Yata stop, that's enough! Don't push him." He didn't realize he'd said the words until after they'd escaped him.

His heart skipped a beat as Totsuka reached up to run his thumb over Yata's cheek, leaving a thin trail of blood there.

"Hey, don't sweat it. It'll all work out."

Kusanagi took a step towards the two of them, ready to take the bleeding boy in his arms and get him to safety. He stopped dead when he heard Tatara force a weak cough, then let his arm go limp, saying, "Sorry."

The bartender almost felt a cry rip from his chest as he listened to Totsuka taking his last breath. It seemed he had zoned out, only being brought back to reality by Yata's screams, full of desperation.

"No. No! You can't be gone! The doctor will fix you!"

He felt his heart shatter as the redhead's voice failed him, and he struggled to whisper to his friend.

"Hang on."

He slowly and unsteadily stumbled towards the old style movie camera that was cast aside in the chaos, picking it up in his uncontrollably shaking hands. Yata held his dead friend close to him, whimpering and crying pitifully. Kusanagi tried to tell himself to be reasonable, and he fished around for his PDA before dialing the first number he could think of, and pulling it up to his ear. The ringing seemed to last for an agonizingly long time, before he finally heard a click and a bored voice from the other side.

"Did you get there yet?"

He paused, suddenly unsure of how to tell his king that his boyfriend was dead.

"Mikoto…" he gulped, scared of what the infamously violent red king's reaction would be. "I've got some bad news."

"Are you sitting down?"

Mikoto's stomach dropped, suddenly anxious for what was to come.

"What's this about? Don't fuck with me."

"Look Mikoto, I've got some bad news…"

A jolt of panic shot through him, the tone in his friend's voice causing him to shudder.

"Cut the shit Izumo. It's not funny."

"You think I don't know that?!" Kusanagi snapped at him from the other end of the line. "This isn't a joke Mikoto!" There was a long pause, and then, "Tatara's dead."

The moment his brain processed those words, he went numb. It was shock, pain, anger, and anxiety all at once, and his body almost couldn't handle the realization. He began to feel the familiar thrumming of red in his veins, just under the skin. A raging fire that boiled in his blood and burned under his fingers. It was a caged lion, practically begging to be set free and bring destruction upon what—or whoever was around him. It was urging him to bring the world to its knees. His eyes attained a red glow, and he watched as wisps of flame danced on his fingertips. He carelessly let his PDA drop to the floor.

"Mikoto?"

"You're lying." He muttered, trembling with fury and shock.

"Mikoto, are you there?"

"We were, just talking. Weren't we, Totsuka?" He clenched his hands into fists and stared disappointedly at his phone, as if it was that thing that had done this. The thing that had single handedly made his world crumble.

"Mikoto, answer me!"

"Izumo," he had finally regained his composure, somewhat. His hands shook with the urge to strangle whoever had touched his precious angel, but his voice was steady and commanding, edged with a deadly venom. "I'm going to end this."

"MIKOTO!"

Mikoto flinched as the blade tore through his skin with unexpected force. He had closed his eyes for just a minute hadn't he? He'd waited for his sword of Damocles to find its mark, and end his pathetic existence. He was done here, and now that he succeeded in getting vengeance for Totsuka's death, he had no purpose or reason to stay.

He'd thought long and hard about this; about how he would die. He had been ready to feel the sword of Damocles come down on him with all the force of the slates; with all the force of a king and their power. Even so, the feeling of Munakata's sword running him through made him shudder. Now, he could feel the blue king's trembling hands holding his saber steady, almost as if not to hurt Mikoto any further by moving the blade. He could feel the icy cold metal against his flesh. He knew that it was already stained with his blood.

Totsuka, tell me I've done you well. Tell me that this is enough. I couldn't stand to do any more; to live another day on this wretched planet. I'm burned out. Let this nightmare end.

"Suoh."

Mikoto all but fell forward as he stepped unsteadily towards the king's voice.

"Munakata…"

"Suoh stop! You'll push it further—" he stopped mid sentence as the warmth of the red king's hands settled on his shoulders, bringing him sudden comfort.

"Thank you. I'm sorry, that you're the one who had to...do it." He ended with a coughing fit, and heaving one last, rasping breath, collapsed onto the blue king.

Munakata wrapped his arms around Mikoto, bringing them both gently to the ground, and kneeling beside the dead king.

Mikoto, you're so much lighter than I remember. You bastard.

He shut his eyes tightly to stop the flow of tears he hadn't even felt coming. Who knew that one day, he'd cry for the red king...

"As attractive as that sounds, just the thought of breathing the same air as you makes me ill." His own words rang in his head, and he clenched his fists against the snow, trying to force it back.

"Renounce your throne."

…

"I just came to see an old friend."

…

"As the blue king, it is my duty to defeat you. In reality, all I really want to do is help you."

His knuckles turned white from the pressure and his palms stung from the force of his nails digging into them, finally it became too much, and—

"Damn you!"

The blue king abruptly stood, pulling his sword mercilessly from the cold, unmoving body of Mikoto Suoh. Casting his eyes away from the blood soaked sword, he sheathed it, stepping back from the red stained snow beneath his feet.

I need to get away from here. I can't—

"Fourth king, Reisi Munakata."

He was startled by the voice, and whipped around, impulsively drawing his sword and pointing it dangerously close to the throat of the man who'd spoken to him. On the receiving end of the saber stood an unphased Izumo Kusanagi.

"Easy now, king." Kusanagi laughed, his smile dropping slowly as his eyes landed on the corpse of his friend. "I'll take over from here. You should return to your clan."

Munakata hastily sheathed his sword once more, turning on his heel and avoiding the dead eyed stare of Homra's strategist. "Of course." He gave a curt nod, and walked past the bartender without a second look. He stopped however, as he reached the edge of what was now a bloody battlefield, looking over his shoulder at the mourning clansman. "I'm sorry, for the burden I've placed on the red clan. I want you to know that had there been another way, I would've done anything to avoid doing what I had to. Unfortunately, this was the only way."

His eyes still fixed on the body of his king, Kusanagi muttered, his voice rasping with grief, "It was what he wanted."

With another nod, Munakata decided to leave the clansman alone with his king. He soon found himself standing in the snowy clearing where their battle had begun. The king quickly located his fallen glasses, and, absentmindedly shoving them into his coat pocket, headed towards where his clan laid in wait.

I hope you're happy Suoh. May you never regret what you've done here.

Mikoto's eyes fluttered open, and he immediately shut them again as he was blinded by a bright golden light.

Wait, golden light? Where am I? Why can I still feel my limbs? I thought I died…

"King?"

His eyes flew open, his hands trembling as an achingly familiar voice called to him. He slowly turned his head towards the voice, afraid that if he tried to see the boy, he'd disappear. He suddenly felt as if he couldn't breathe when he was met with the sight of a boy with beautiful blonde hair, golden brown eyes, and one, silver earring.

"Ah, you're awake. Welcome back king! I missed you!"

Mikoto sat up slowly, not bothering to think about how he'd ended up on some bed in who knows where. All that mattered is that Tatara Totsuka was here, he was real, and Mikoto wasn't as alone as he'd felt for the twelve days he'd lived without him. Getting to his feet, the red king hastily made his way towards the blonde boy, pinning him to the wall and kissing him deeply, ignoring the boy's small squeak of surprise. As he pulled away, he turned, punching Tatara in the shoulder muttering.

"Reckless bastard."

With that, Mikoto sat back down on the bed, turning away from Totsuka. The young blonde chose to ignore this, and he sat next to Mikoto, leaning on his shoulder and closing his eyes in peace.

"Yeah, sorry about that." He lifted his head to look at his king, and gold found gold as their gazes met. "But, I did promise you those videos didn't I?"

Only then did Mikoto notice the old style movie camera sitting on the nightstand.

"Yeah, you did."