(Ember)
(KUSANAGI IZUMO)
Kusanagi knows well what will happen to Mikoto when his Weissman Level reaches its limit. He also knows what Mikoto will do to make sure that when he dies, nobody else will.
Tatara knew too. Both want to die with their king when the time comes. But they know Mikoto won't let that happen. So when Tatara dies, he can't help but think something selfish.
"At least you'll be with Mikoto soon."
He knows how selfish he sounds. But maybe that's because he realises that soon, he'll be alone.
Alone.
He doesn't want that.
So he doesn't tell anyone what he thought that night. Well, almost.
Later they sit down. Look at Tatara's last video. The video the records his death. Ironic. The last recording of someone who recorded all of Homura's happiest moments, was the most despairing thing they have ever seen.
He sees it. How Tatara dies. And every second he thinks, I wish I could've stopped that. I WANT to stop that. But it doesn't change anything. Tatara is gone and he'll never come back.
Homura starts to move out right after that. They want to destroy the killer, the colorless king. They will burn him, until not even ashes remain. They will get revenge. Damn the fact that it's a king they're after, if the murderer speaks the truth.
One evening, the whole of Homura is out and Izumo's alone in his bar. Sitting on the floor of a back room with some of his alcohol storage, the door shut tight, Izumo lets himself break.
Tatara is gone. Soon, so will Mikoto. Soon, he'll be alone. Alone. Alone. Alone. The word resounds in his head. He picks up a glass, fills it, and starts to drinks as much as he can.
Izumo doesn't just break. He shatters into pieces.
Sometime after, when he is finally drunk, Izumo finds a coil of rope in the corner of the room. He is not very drunk yet, but his mind is foggy, his movements sluggish and his thoughts jumbled. He downs the remains of his glass and sits down, the rope in his lap.
Half the time he doesn't realize what he's doing, only that his hands are working the rope into something. Tatara's death and Mikoto soon inevitable demise are the only things that are in his thoughts now.
He doesn't spent how much time he spends, sitting there, tying the rope. It feels like hours but it could be minutes. But when his vision clears slightly he sees that the rope in his hands has turned into a noose.
A noose.
"Maybe I'll follow Mikoto and Tatara after he dies…"
He doesn't realize that he said that out loud. He doesn't realize that for the past five minutes someone has been standing in the open doorway watching him finger the noose, that he has heard what Izumo said until he is being harshly yanked up be the neck of his shirt and is staring into Mikoto's angry amber eyes.
"Mikoto…"
The word comes out slightly slurred. Their eyes are directly in contact, his trademark shades somewhere on his bar counter. In other words, there is nothing that stop Mikoto from seeing the turmoil of emotions behind his friends eyes.
"Izumo, don't you even think about…"
That's odd. Even after that much alcohol, the edge of his vision shouldn't be black yet.
"What are you thi- Izumo?"
Izumo's mind is barely registering Mikoto' voice. It's going softer by the second.
"Izumo?"
"Hah… Mikoto…"
The world spins once, before his vision goes black.
When Izumo comes to, it takes him a while to register the fact that he's awake, because something soft has been placed over his eyes. Something wet.
Cloth. The word registers in his mind before he attempts to make his hands listen to him and remove the cloth. His small effort is halted, when another person's hand stops his from moving and places it back by his side.
"Izumo, when was the last time you ate?"
Ate. Food. With all that had happened, the thought of feeding himself has left his mind entirely.
"Izumo? How long did you go without food?"
His voice comes out hoarse.
"A few days I think."
He only tells Mikoto days, and not how long he actually realizes it is.
"Izumo."
But his king realizes that he's not being truthful.
"… a little over a week."
He hears a sigh.
"Izumo."
"Don't worry I'll just go get something to eat…"
It's taking him a lot of effort to prevent his voice from breaking. His throat is sore and his mouth is dry.
"Ne, how long did I sleep?"
"Five hours. It's one in the morning now."
"Ne, Mikoto. It isn't good for you to stay up so late-"
"Izumo."
His grip on the bartender's hand tightens, and Izumo knows that want Mikoto wants is an explanation, not empty reassurances.
"When you leave, Tatara will be waiting for you."
His mind is still foggy from the alcohol, Mikoto reasons. There's no way Izumo would say something like that straight at him if he was sober.
"Both of you will leave me alone…"
Mikoto doesn't know why he's grabbed Izumo by the front of his shirt, just like when he heard about his suicide plans. He freezes when he realises that Izumo is shaking. That he is crying. That right now his second in command is broken and he doesn't know what to do.
The first thing that corns to mind is how he's let this happen without noticing. Over the week, he hasn't noticed at all how Izumo has deteriorated. Mikoto only notices the bags under his eyes, the pale shade his skin has taken and how tired he looks. The only thing he can do is let go of Izumo, tear his eyes away from his broken face and lend him his shoulder to cry on.
It goes on for an hour until he loses whatever energy he had and collapses in Mikoto's arms again, succumbing to his fatigue.
It's a good eleven hours until he wakes up again, and hurriedly puts his mask back on again, but Mikoto makes sure that he eats a full meal and tells Anna and Kamamoto to do so in case he's not there.
The rest if the clan don't question why Izumo has woken up so late, why their king seems to be watching him more closely or why he asks Anna ad Kamamoto to keep an eye on him. They understand that even Homura's second in command is not invincible.
The night before they raid the weapons dealer's lair, after Mikoto tells Izumo his plan, Mikoto gets Izumo to make a promise. A promise that if he dies, Izumo won't follow him, or even try to. Izumo is reluctant and it takes a lot of persuading on Mikoto's part for him to give. Even then, Mikoto is not entirely sure he will keep it. But his promise is the only thing he has to hold on to.
Time passes. Mikoto is captured by Sceptre-4. They find Tatara's muderer. They become so much more closer to extracting revenge. The blues get in their way. Mikoto breaks out if jail. They find the killer's hideout and take over the School Island. A war between them and the blue calm erupts. They discover the truth.
All through this Izumo knows that the time when Mikoto will leave is growing closer by the second. And he can't do anything but watch. It hurts. It hurts so much.
Then it happens.
Mikoto dies.
Izumo can see him when the blue king's sabre runs through Mikoto. He's nowhere near the king but if he closes his eyed he can see every single detail. He sees that his king is smiling. That small, resigned smile. He's smiling because he died alone, and he didn't kill several thousand people with him. Even Munakata's face is grim. It's clear that he did not want to resort to this. But the world narrows down to the fact that Mikoto's is gone, and finally Izumo is alone.
It takes a week for everything to settle and the truth to sink in. It also take a week for Izumo to break his promise.
Unfortunately, the others are out. The rest of Homura has spread themselves around the city, going to their little pockets of isolation to wallow in despair or drink away their sorrows. Well, most.
Anna is still here.
Anna is always here.
"I'm still here. And I'll always be here."
It's her voice that cuts through the haze of his mind, her hands that stop him from deepening the shard of glass in his wrists and her eyes staring into him that makes him break.
He dreams of a lonely void.
Alone.
Tatara.
Alone.
Mikoto.
Alone.
Tatara, Mikoto.
Alone.
Where are you?
Alone.
I'm alone…
Alone.
Alone.
Alone.
(KUSHINA ANNA)
All the members of Homura have different reds. None are the same.
Yata's red is wild, uncontrollable, but always burns with purpose. Izumo's red is steady, it spreads out slowly and temper some of the more wild flames, like Yata.
Totsuka's red is the most different. It's glows softly, spreads over everyone and keeps them together. It makes the others calm. But she can't really describe it, because its gone now. It's harder to remember something you know you'll never see again. When Totsuka's becomes a dull grey, a crack appears in the marble.
Mikoto's red is warm but never burns. It envelops the others like Tatara's but is more like a lion that stands protectively in front of them. She holds on that memory as firmly as she can, because she doesn't want to lose it. When even that disappears, another crack apears in the marble.
Izumo's red has changed. Now it's flickering, dying out. When she looks closer it seems as if its trying to make itself die out. She's afraid of losing anything else. Afraid of seeing another red go dull.
So she watches the last pillar, watching it break without knowing how to fix it.
Tatara would have known.
Anna reminds herself that Tatara is not there. Not anymore.
She looks at Izumo's red this time. It's much more dull than before, but at least it's not near grey yet. It gets brighter for a while, but gets full again. It alternates between growing brighter and dulling the whole time so Anna firmly plants herself by his side in worry. She canon afford to lose the last pillar.
A small crack appears in the marble. Though not as large as the other two cracks, it is nevertheless a crack. But sw tries her best to hold the marble together.
Five minutes.
Half an hour.
One hour.
When will he wake?
Two hours.
Three hours.
Soon?
Four hours.
Five hours.
Will he ever wake?
Six hours.
Seven hours later, Anna falls asleep.
Nine hours later, she wakes to find him gone.
In the trash can, is a lone shard of glass with flecks of dried blood on it. On the floor, the shattered remains of the glass it had come from.
Anna tears out the door so fast that she crashes into the figure on the sidewalk.
She looks up, and she sees her aunt.
Anna's been with Homura for a long time. She's been there even since she was eight. Both her parents died in an accident and she was left in care of Kushina Honami, her aunt. She stayed with Honami for a short amount of time but she was later left in the care of Suoh Mikoto, her former student. Honami had her own children to look after and left her specifically in Mikoto's care because she knew she was a strain. It wasn't that she wanted to get rid of Anna, oh no. She chose Mikoto because she thought it would be better for Anna to be with someone like her.
Mikoto was glad for Anna. She was one of the few who did not look at him with fear, intimidation or 'the red king'. She merely saw him just Suoh Mikoto. She even called him by his first name when they met.
"Anna?"
She is hesitant, and Anna knows something bad is going to happen. She starts to walk away.
"Anna, I'm here to take you back with me."
"No."
She keeps walking. The clicking sound of her aunts heels follow.
"Come on Anna. Grab your stuff and let's leave."
"No."
"Anna, we're going."
"No. I'm not leaving."
Anna stops to turn.
Honami's face is now pulled into a tight frown, and she gives Anna a stern glare.
"You can't stay here."
"Why not?"
Anna is staring back at her, their eyes locked, but her face expressionless.
"I left you in Suoh's care. Now he's dead. You're left with a gang of brutish men. You're coming back with me. Homura is a bad influence on you."
"No. You're wrong."
Anna is backing away from her unconsciously, her voice rising in clear anger.
"Homura isn't bad. I'm staying with them. Homura is my family."
"Nonsense. You're too young to be able to think about these sort of matters. You're coming back with me."
"No I'm not."
"You're coming back with me to a real family-"
The second she hears the word family, the marble shatters.
"My family is Homura. I'm it's princess and I will always be here."
Honami is stunned, but her shock turns into anger.
"You're coming with me, wether you like it or not!"
Her hand reaches out to grab Anna's arm, but recoils when it is met with a layer of flames.
"Anna stop this! You cannot stay with Homura-"
"I'M NOT LEAVING!"
All of her pent up emotions from Tatara's death until know blows, accompanied by a sphere of red flames that engulfed her small figure.
"I'M NOT LEAVING HOMURA AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!"
The street blows, and in the cover of dust and debris, Anna turns and runs.
"Anna!"
She hears Yata and Kamamoto call out her name, but doesn't stop or even turn, because she hears Honami calling her too. Anna doesn't want to look at Homami. She doesn't want to look at the person who is supposed to be her aunt. She doesn't want to look at the person who wants to take her away from Homura.
She runs, with tears in her eyes. Running to somewhere, anywhere. She wants to be with Mikoto. With Totsuka. She wants to rewind time and start over. But she can't. She will never see Tatara's kind smile or Mikoto's warm red ever again.
[Console in silence.]
"I actually managed to sneak out…"
It is common to see young people sneaking into graveyards at night in groups to give each other a good scare near Halloween, but it not so common to see a rather sad looking young man walking into a graveyard in the dead of the night near Christmas.
He watched the light snow fall around him, a thin coat of white blanketing the cemetery.
"Now then, how long will it take for them to find me?"
As he neared two gravestones on the edge of the graveyard, he felt weariness overcoming him.
"Maybe I'll really join you two…"
Anna ran, letting her subconscious guide her, for she knew it could only take her to one place. All three of Homra's pillars would be there…
Her body stopped, and she did not need to look far for the blonde was asleep beside his two friends.
She joined him.
"Tatara."
The said man turned to look at Anna, his half finished glass of water in his hands.
"Tatara doesn't fight like the rest right?"
"Yep!"
"Why not?"
"Same reason as you I guess. I can't really fight. In fact I suck at it."
"Just that?"
"Well, also because I can't really bring myself to hurt others. Maybe that's why I have so many hobbies eh? Because I want to find something that I'm good at."
If only I could go back to that time and never leave.
"-nna. Anna. Up now, princess."
Anna wakes, and tenses, grabbing Izumo's arm.
Kushina Honami sighs.
"It looks like only death will do you and Homra apart. Fine. Goodbye then Anna."
Anna doesn't let go until Honami is gone, long gone.
"You sure you don't want to go with her?"
"She's going to the states you know. You'll probably never see her again."
"I'm fine like this."
"Suit yourself."
"As long as you're staying."
"The princess's wish is mine to obey."