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The

Twilight

Void

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caroandlyn

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Part One

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Akashi stares at the scenery outside the palace window, wondering if he could get away with conjuring a storm—and only a small one, mind you—if only to stir up the excitement. Millenniums of routine have driven him to near lunacy, and if he weren't immortal, he is sure he would have long died of ennui.

A sudden inspiration hits him, and his lips lift slightly upwards; a cruel, cold smirk.

"Momoi," he calls out blandly, and the Moon Princess turns to look at him from her embroidering, annoyed. She is really quite lovely: silk tresses of pink hair, a long, thin nose and plump lips—so similar and yet so different from her twin brother, the Sun Prince, Kise, who has a beauty that shines brighter than all others, but can be quite painful to look at after a while.

"What, Akashi?" she asks, and does not bother to hide the flippancy in her tone. He does not mind her disrespect too much—she may be the third-born child, but she is also the most efficient of his siblings, and he can trust her to get things done.

"I believe that I have not seen Kuroko for—"

"—three years, five months, six weeks and two days, including today," Momoi says without blinking, arching one delicate eyebrow upwards. She returns to her sewing, pulling out a roll of purple thread. "I know that. Let me make a guess, you wish to see him?"

Akashi smiles almost sinisterly, extending one narrow finger on his sister's extended chin. She shakes her head exasperatedly, turning away from his touch. "You know me all too well, Momoi. Our youngest brother has spent too much time skulking in the shadows of lower beings, don't you agree? Should we summon him back here, and let the brightness engulf the world?"

"You are much too evil," Momoi says, but there is no hiding the crafty smile that dances on her lips. "Midorama-kun should know of Tetsu-kun's whereabouts, yes? What orders should we send him this time?"

"How about, kill the human that Kuroko stays with this time, hmm? As punishment for disregarding his poor, lonely siblings?" He puts a finger to his lips, as if telling a secret. "I wonder what expression he'll make at me this time, after he realizes I was the one who was behind the death of his beloved pet? It should be very beautiful, indeed, isn't that right?"

Momoi shakes her head, stabbing the needle harder than necessary in the silk canvas. "You're insane," she says, in a sultry tone she hasn't used on him for almost three centuries, "onii-chan. No wonder I love you so—"

"But not as much as you love Kuroko," Akashi cuts in, his tone almost admonishing, and Momoi shrugs, making a sound of affirmant.

"Of course. After all, don't we all love Tetsu-kun very, very much?"

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Kagami finds himself alone again, sitting on his cot while he waits for Kuroko to finish whatever the Shadow Lord fancies on doing for the day. Being a contractor is in reality an extremely dull job—in return for getting stat boosts until his abilities are far past human limitations, he has to wait patiently for sometimes weeks at a time while Kuroko ventures into little adventures unfit for the fragile bodies of humans, and is unable to leave the room for long periods—even to spar— lest the Elemental return any moment.

The sound of knocking interrupts his thoughts and he snaps his head up, whipping out his gun and directing it towards the door a second later. Damn. He had gotten rusty. How had he not heard the footsteps? "Hey, Kagami, is Kuroko in right now?"

Kagami sighs; he recognizes the voice. The gun is hastily shoved back under his pillow. "No, he's out. Why are you looking for him, Izuki?"

"He borrowed one of my joke books a while back, told that he wanted to learn more about 'the basis of human dynamics' or something like that. Well, if he's not in, than I'm off. See you later, Kagami."

"Wait," says Kagami, "don't go yet." He hears the footsteps stop, a strange shuffling noise in its place. "I haven't sparred with anybody for a long time. Kuroko won't mind if we mess up the room a little. It's not like he's coming back any time soon, right?"

"Sure, if that's what you want," Izuki says, and the door opens a second later, brown eyes eyeing the room with interest. "Wow, your room is pretty neat compared to the last time I saw it. What—you hired a maid under our noses or something?"

Kagami snorts. Loudly. "Yeah, right. Kuroko just waved his hand the other day and the whole room became magically neat. I don't know how he did it, honestly, but he even put my blankets in the correct order." He gestures to the bedspread, where his six quilts are stacked messily over another. "So anyway, how do you want to do this? With swords? Hand-to-hand? Magic? Or just a simple brawl?"

Izuki shrugs, pulling out a carefully hidden knife from under his shirt sleeves. "How about a free-for-all? Riko's training is so dull, it really makes me want to go out there somewhere and start going homicidal sometimes." A maniacal smile flits over the older boy's face, divulging his true intent. "I learned some new magic the other day—I think it would be good to practice it, ne, Kagami?"

"Go ahead and try," Kagami laughs, cracking his knuckles. "Alright, let's—whoa!"

He ducks a hasty retreat as a flash of fox-fire shoots right in the area where his head would have been, hitting the vanity behind him instead and fizzling away. Izumi whistles appreciatively, fingers still steaming, and begins the hand motions to create another ball—

"Oh, no you don't!" Kagami yells, grabbing his pistol and firing. The bullet hits Izumi's knife and bounces off, safely landing onto the ground, but is enough to distract the warrior-priest from continuing on his spell. Kagami rushes forwards, kicking at the adversary's knees, and is pleased to note that his foot makes contact. Izumi stumbles at the sudden impact, falling backwards, but recovers sufficiently to dodge Kagami's next punch.

Kagami moves forwards, ducking his head as Izuki's elbows fly past above. "Take this!" he shouts, twisting the gun at an angle as he aims. He shoots twice; both bullets embed themselves in the wall behind his target. In retaliation, a spinning orb of compressed air shoots toward him, and Kagami flinches violently to the side, wincing as the basketball he had placed on the dresser is blasted into smithereens.

"Good try, Kagami," Izuki taunts breathlessly, his fingers forming a series of symbols in rapid succession. "But can you survive this?" He whispers something low underneath his breath, and suddenly a ball of pure energy forms within his hand, glowing a deep, guttural shade of red. "I learned this from one of the Medieval books that survived the Burnings. This is the power of Satan himself!"

Kagami smiles ferally, settling into a defense stance. "Didn't the history books teach you about what happened to Satan? The Seven Elemental Rulers completely crushed him into oblivion—just like how I am going to crush you!"

"Big talk for a rookie warrior like you," the older boy notes. His voice cracks involuntarily from the strain of holding up such a spell; Kagami's stomach lurches—he cannot imagine how much power the ball must hold. "You can't escape this now, Kagami!"

Izuki flings the ball forwards blindly, before flying backwards violently from the recoil shock. The orb flies towards Kagami, and he stands, frozen, watching it in slow motion, because he can't move oh god he can't move he's frozen

"AAAAAUUUUGGGHH!" Kagami screams as the energy impacts against his chest—he cannot feel the pain anymore, only the blistering heat scorching against his skin and the blood pooling around his torso. "Fuck—fuckFUCK—"

Izuki watches the scene, his expression of maniacal glee slowly morphing into undiluted terror. Behind him, the door bursts open, Riko barging in authoritatively, followed by the entirety of the Seirin Camp.

"What happened here?" Riko says, surveying the damage, before catching sight of Kagami. "Kagami, what have you been doing? Where's Kuroko?"

"...it was... just a spar," Kagami says weakly, clutching at his chest, before giving a smile. "It's fine... I'm an Elemental Ruler contractor... see? It's starting to heal... already..."

He is right. Around the area of most damage, an area dangerously close to his inner organs, the skin has already started to regrow, the worst of the burns fading into rapidly fading scars. His complexion is rapidly darkening from the white paleness it had been—Riko calculates that in about an hour or so, there will be no sign of Kagami's injury anymore.

"What a cheap skill," Hyuuga grumbles, and she whacks him with the end of her clipboard for his inconsideration of a teammate. "I mean, isn't he practically immortal now? This healing ability is almost too good to be true."

"Yes, but still..." Riko says, before turning her head sharply to face a shame-faced Izuki. "You! What were you thinking, fighting Kagami when you know he's much below your level? What if he didn't have that miraculous healing ability? What if he died?"

"It's not his fault..." Kagami mumbles tiredly, sitting up. "I was the one... who instigated the spar. It's not... Izuki's fault... so don't blame him..."

"He is right," a familiar voice says, and all faces are directed towards the entrance of the doorway. "Kagami-kun was the one who pressured Izuki-san into accepting the spar. Additionally, the one who should have been worrying about his health was Izuki-san. Therefore, I see no problem."

"Hmph," Riko says, crossing her arms. "He's your charge, though, Kuroko, you should take care of him better. If the contract didn't forbid him from leaving this area while you were gone, this would have never happened."

"But it does, and so it did," Kuroko says blankly, his voice strangely pacifying, setting a gentle hand on Kagami's shoulder, before mumbling something under his breath. At once the disorganized room is rearranged into something borderline passable, the damage from the battle disappearing as if it had never existed, and Kagami's wounds are completely gone, along with the large hole in his shirt. "Izuki-san, I would advise you not to use that spell again. The recoil shock will take quite a toll on your body later on, and the energy may attract... unsavory things."

Izuki nods slightly, not trusting himself to speak. The general shock from the spar has died down, followed instead with concern and curiosity regarding Kagami's pseudo-immortality, but slowly and surely, the crowd trickles outside, until only Riko, Kagami, and Kuroko remain. Mitobe flips the unmoving Izuki with ease over his shoulder, and leaves along with the others.

Kagami groans. "We never finished our battle..." he moans, sighing.

"Bakagami!" Riko shouts, holding his head in an uncomfortable headlock. "Is fighting all that goes on in your head?"

Kuroko watches the scene with darkly veiled eyes, and frowns, crushing the small poppy seed in his hand. Behind him, a single green seedling creeps innocently in from the open window, unnoticed by all.

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"Alright, you brats, go ahead," Riko says, crossing her arms authoritatively. She stands in the Spectators' Box beside an indifferent-looking Kuroko, and looks down at the training grounds with an air of disgruntlement. "Remember the rules—this time, try not to go for life-threatening injuries, alright?"

"Got it," Kagami says, baring his teeth ferally. "Alright, bring it on!"

"If that's what you wish," Izuki says, immediately harnessing two glowing balls of tightly compressed air. "Can you handle the pressure?"

Kagami laughs, a hearty sound. "Can you?" he says, before whipping out a pair of specially-made energy handguns. He shoots a barrage of energy bullets at the same time Izuki throws his balls of air, and the two forces collide against one another with a large explosion.

Izuki takes advantage of the smoke to lunge forwards, pulling out from the lining of his pants, instead of his preferred dagger, a long-sword. He thrusts blindly at the area he had seen his adversary last, and is rewarded with a flash of metal resisting his blade, utilizing so much force that he is even pushed back.

"Thought you could get me like that?" Kagami taunts, his voice heavy with exertion. He has put aside his guns for a pair of blades, one long and the other barely bigger than a kitchen knife, specially designed for resisting energy bolts. "You'll have to try header!"

"That I will," Izuki says, smiling widely. "You seem to have forgotten that I am already a certified priest apprentice. Compressed air is something that even beginners like yourself can do, did you know?" He shoots two fingers upwards, forming particles of water made of pure spiritual aura alone. "Can your swords slice through water?"

"If they can slice through air, I'm sure they can go through water," Kagami says confidently, settling himself in another stance. As the balls of water head towards him, he takes the longer sword and stabs through it, rendering it into splotches of liquid that fall harmlessly to the ground. "See?"

Izuki grins, his smile rather reminiscent of a clown. "But that is not all I can do, Kagami," he says, stomping at the ground. At once, a fissure goes through the ground, shaking the ground violently. "Can you dodge this?"

Kagami jerks violently to the side as a large beanstalk sprouts through the ground, spearing through the area where had just been. It stops just shy of the ceiling, but large tendrils of vines wave violently, heading straight towards Kagami. "Since when could you do all this?" Kagami asks, slicing away at the foliage hastily.

Izuki's face pales rapidly. "I didn't... this spell was supposed to do this! I didn't summon the beanstalk!"

Kuroko's complexion is ashen as well. "Move out of the way!" the Elemental Ruler shouts, jumping off the ledge of the Spectators' Box, and Kagami and Izuki heed to his warning at once, scrambling away from the scene, shaken at seeing the normally-composed boy panic. "What are you doing here? Who sent you here?"

The beanstalk splits open through the middle, and through the gap a green-haired man walks out, tall, handsome, and strangely cold. "Tetsuya. You have not visited the Heavenly Palace for almost half a decade. This is your punishment."

Kuroko's expression is true fear, and apprehensively the three humans back away, because what on Earth could scare an Elemental Ruler? "Onii-sama has not called me upwards, Onii-san. I have not sinned."

"Regardless, you have made him lonely with your absence. I have orders to kill your new pet if you resist," the handsome man—the oldest of the three Land Kings, the Earth King, Midorima, Riko recognizes—says, pulling out a pair of glass spectacles. Kuroko tenses up, clutching at his fists desperately. "Come. I have already set up a Portal. Go through, and nobody will be hurt."

"Kuroko, no!" Kagami shouts, seeing the absolute pain in the boy's eyes. "Don't listen to him or worry about us—just leave! Don't do something you don't want to do!"

Riko watches Midorima turn, gazing coldly at her charge. "You must be Tetsuya's dog," he says, and then, quick as a flash, a sudden flame envelops the area where Kagami had stood. Before she can scream out in surprise, the flame is gone, and instead Kagami falls to the floor, badly burnt. "I have ended your contract now. You will forget about Tetsuya, and resume your utterly pitiful life, or I will end it for you now."

"Onii-san!" Kuroko all but screams, making an anguished face. "Leave him alone! I'll go with you!" At that moment, it strikes all the onlookers in the room how human Kuroko looks, pain in his eyes and tears building up in his eyes.

"Che," Midorima tsks, and turns to face his younger brother. "You go in first. I will shortly follow."

Kuroko walks into the beanstalk, his face carefully hollow, before he disappears out of sight. Midorima makes to follow, but pauses after half a step.

"I lied about killing you if Tetsuya resisted," he says clinically, tapping the glass of his spectacles as if thinking. "My goal was to kill you no matter what you did. Don't take this personally."

And before anyone can do anything else, a seedling rises from the floor of the training grounds, piercing straight through Kagami's heart before becoming a tree.

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