[A/N]: so I'll just be warning y'all that this chapter contains some AU, which will of course come into effect later on... I've always known that this was going to happen from the very beginning and so I hope that my dear, lovely readers will enjoy it as well ^^ The song Scarlet is by Periphery, by the way.


Scarlet
Learning to love a disaster, direct your soul in the essence of light.
To draw the blood of the master, flee, the stains on your wings now carry the fray.
Tell that she embraced the glory vengeance brings.
Hold, curl in tight, illuminate the light.

Just as Izumo had promised, the next morning he stood before Mikoto's beds with his hands on his hips and a big smile on his face as he poked you to awaken you. In response, you grumbled, swatted his hand away and curled back into Mikoto's warm body, already dreading the coldness beyond the blankets.

"Nuh uh!" Izumo pulled your duvet away, earning himself a pitiful whine from you and a badly-aimed kick which he dodged with ease. Mikoto, having anticipated this move from Izumo the night before, had prepared for this by finding a second blanket before going to bed. Thanks to this, the redhead was still sleeping soundly, and warmly, oblivious to your malady.

Knowing you had agreed to this and too tired to struggle any further, you rolled out of bed, landing on the floor with a soft 'thump'.

"Atta girl," Izumo said before leaving you to dress yourself.

Though before you officially got up, you allowed yourself a few more minutes on the ground, but when you caught yourself almost falling asleep again, you quickly got up and put on some proper clothes. Then you made your way to the bathroom to try and freshen yourself up a bit before heading downstairs, where Izumo was waiting for you with several tasks.

First of all, you were to mop the floor and clean the mess everyone had made the evening before. As there were still quite a few hours until the bar opened again, you had enough time to do this at your own pace while trying to do your best to please Izumo at the same time. The bartender himself was tending to his bar and his glasses, checking over the bottles that were still left and of which he had to order some more and how many that would be.

Almost two hours later, HOMRA's usual corner was cleaned of every speck of dust and the floor in the whole room looked like one could actually eat off it. It had taken a bit longer than expected, though, for you had woken Frank up with all the commotion. He had then proceeded to believe the mop to be a monster and he had taken it upon himself to vanquish this evil being, flying at the mop, growling playfully, while you had tried to hold it out of his reach.

"Argh, Frank, don't do that shit!" you had whispered harshly in frustration, not wanting to wake the others. The dog had seemed adamant on his quest to purge the world of this hairy monstrosity, however, and in the end you had given up and started playing around with him to tire him out instead.

After that, it was the kitchen's turn to receive a proper rinsing and much to your surprise, it didn't take much longer when Izumo called you to join him behind the bar.

There, he quickly showed you how everything worked, just in time for the opening of the bar. Not that people would be coming in that soon, but it was the thought that counted.

By the time you and Izumo had hung around the bar for about two more hours, only a handful of customers had come in to order something to drink. With nothing much else to do, the two of you ended up talking more than you had in a very long time, and it felt good. Almost like nothing had ever happened and you were still a student in high school, visiting the bar after school, chatting with one of your best friends about various topics.

Another hour went by and slowly but surely, one by one, the boys started making their way downstairs, chattering loudly. Most of them never stayed long, some of them grabbing something to eat before heading out while others barely even managed to bid you good morning as they left the bar. You felt like a mother waving her children off as they went to school, and you suddenly understood why many considered Izumo to be HOMRA's mother. Then you asked yourself how he could stand it, sitting idle all day while the others went out and did their thing.

Anna was the only one who stayed inside, having no where to go and no one to go with, so instead Izumo turned on the TV for her so that she could watch some cartoons.

And finally, Mikoto was the last to descend, yawning widely and scratching at his stomach.

"Good morning." You smiled at him, and he grumbled something you didn't quite catch in response.

He ruffled Anna's hair on his way to the counter, where he took up his usual spot. You were already waiting for him there with some breakfast, having been so bored that you had already prepared some for him earlier, which he gladly accepted with a more awake look on his face.

Throughout the meal, he tightly held your hand in his, fingers entwined as though he were afraid to lose you the moment he let go of you. Your brows rose at the surprisingly sweet gesture, after which you just decided to watch his attempts at eating his food with one hand, amused at the clumsiness he was portraying all of a sudden.

Your eyebrows then dipped down into a frown and you pulled your digits out of his grasp, instead pulling his hand towards you and turning it with its palm up, realising how much rougher it felt on your skin than it used to. Inspecting it, you found that, much to your surprise, the bruises on it had grown since last time you had actually seen his hand. They had always been calloused, adorning little scratches and burn marks here and there since that day he had lost control, but you had never seen them to this extent.

"Mikoto..." you started, fear filling the pits of your stomach as you continued to examine his hand, flipping it over to check the other side and even grabbing his other hand, cutlery and all, to prove your findings. "What's going on?"

He quickly pulled his hand back and gave a nonchalant shrug before resuming his meal as though nothing had happened. Your frown deepened even more and you leaned closer to him over the bar, even going so far as to place a hand on his forehead. Not really knowing what you had expected in the first place, you still felt a little relieved to find that his temperature seemed to be normal. Now Mikoto was staring at you in slight irritation and he swatted your hand away from his face.

"I'm fine," he grumbled before munching on his breakfast again, but you wouldn't give up so easily.

"Have you been having those nightmares again?" you pressed on, adamant to find out what was going on while trying to push the familiar wave of guilt away from you, realising you hadn't even wondered about Mikoto's well-being that had always seemed like a rollercoaster to you.

Another shrug from Mikoto and you sighed, annoyed with his reluctance to even look you in the eye any longer. At least that was an answer in its own right: a big fat yes, so to say.

Fright filled you even stronger than before and you wondered, feared, how long this had been going on and how much longer it could continue going on. You thought back to the previous night and found that you didn't really remember any distress coming from the redhead's sleeping form, but then again, you had still been rather tired to notice anything.

You had only just gotten back! You didn't think you could cope with losing him again, despite the first time being your own fault in the first place. But this time you intended to stay by his side until the day you died, so he couldn't just go off and die on you before you had turned, like, eighty years old or something!

A plan, completely unnoticed by you yourself, had formed itself at the back of your mind. Before you knew what you were doing, before you had the time to consciously think anything through, you acted upon the instinct that your wish to stay with Mikoto for the rest of your live had evoked and grabbed his hands again.

Taking him by surprise, he almost startled and looked up, right into your determined eyes. You gave his hands a tight squeeze and your stupid mouth blurted out, "Will you marry me?"

You couldn't remember the last time, if ever, that Mikoto's eyes grew so large, surprise evident in his orbs as he stared at you, probably thinking you crazy. Even you yourself frowned at yourself, your mouth hanging slightly open as you ran over the words you had just spoken out loud inside your mind.

Will you marry me?

WHAT? WHY NOWALL OF A SUDDEN?

Izumo had just chosen that exact moment to enter within hearing range, his whole body going rigid as the almost-forbidden words entered his ears and went into his brain, failing to process it completely.

Then he slowly turned to look at you two, both of you still sitting and standing frozen and not knowing what to do or say, his mouth agape. "E-excuse me, did I just hear what I think I heard?"

Both you and Mikoto nodded wordlessly. Your faces were now blank, yours hiding the shameful turmoil raging about inside of you as you shot ever swearword that you knew at yourself. You could have at least thought it through a little, maybe planned some things. A ring, for example, would have been pretty nice for an engagement.

Mikoto's empty face shielded almost the same state of mind from all outsiders, though his 'panic' was more directed to why anybody would want to marry someone like him. That he should say something, otherwise you would think he was rejecting you... Was he? Or was he planning on saying yes? He never could open his mouth to answer your sudden question as Izumo wedged himself into the conversation.

"Haru! You do know what you just asked Mikoto, don't you?" he pondered out loud, not seeming so sure all of a sudden as he noticed the distraught look that passed your face in a flash. Or maybe that was because you thought Mikoto wasn't accepting your proposal?

You slowly shook your head, then jerked up to straighten your back and release your hold on the King's hands, nodding your head with vigour as if to make up for having shaken your head in the first place. Izumo cocked his head to the side at that, confused. Suddenly he noticed your hands were starting to tremble by your sides, your arms hanging uselessly at your shoulders. Feeling pity for you, he decided to try and help you, and Mikoto, out of your stupors.

"With him being a King and all, you do know that marrying him isn't like marrying someone else, someone... well, normal?" Izumo offered and tried his best to sound as kind as possible.

You nodded, though you hadn't really thought about that at all. Why did Izumo know such things, anyway? But in that moment, you realised that it didn't matter. Nothing else did, as long as you could stay by Mikoto's side. If you had to fulfil a pilgrimage to the other side of the planet with nothing but your clothes, then so be it. If it took you thirty years to do this and then return in one piece, then that would make you very sad, but if there really was no other way...

Mikoto's daze seemed to be lifted by the stubborn determination that entered your orbs once more as you re-established eye contact with the redhead. As if reading your thoughts, the corner of his mouth twitched upwards in a tiny smirk, happiness and hope filling your very being as you noticed this.

"Being the Queen of a clan, as I'd like to call it," Izumo paused his explanation as though he were expecting admiration for his very original name of someone marrying a King, "brings certain responsibilities with it. For example, if the Queen's King were to perish before his time, it would befall the Queen to continue exercising authority over the former King's clan members."

He continued chatting, but his voice only entered your cognitive centre as some kind of far-off droning, as though a fly were buzzing around your head. Instead, you concentrated on Mikoto's face, investigating his expression for any sign of response. Mikoto, though not showing it of course, had been reluctant about your proposal, wondering whether you would still want to go through with your rash decision after hearing Izumo's warnings and discouragements. However, when he soon noticed that you weren't even listening to the bartender's well-meant speech, he realised that you didn't care and his face opened up to you all of a sudden, a smile shining through that, for once, even managed to reach his eyes.

You felt your knees turn into pudding at the sight, knowing that this was as close as you were going to get to receiving a 'yes'. You really couldn't care less about the 'duties of a Queen' Izumo was still blabbering on about, having made your decision the very moment you blurted out those sacred words. For once, you'd do things Mikoto's way and do what you felt was right instead of adjusting yourself to conventions and rules.

"...hey, are you even listening to me?" Izumo put his hands on his hips, pretending to glare at the two of you as you suddenly started to smile widely. Seeing the peaceful smile on Mikoto's face that he had only seen a few times in all the years that he had known him, Izumo decided to let the subject drop with a shake of his head. He couldn't help himself from grinning widely as well.

Anna in the meanwhile had also joined the commotion at the bar, staring from face to face, confused as to what was going on. She had already considered you the clan's Queen, so she couldn't grasp why Izumo would be talking about such to you all of a sudden.

As if suddenly realising the situation, you jumped back a little and clapped your hands over your mouth. You were getting married! With a squeal, you did a small pirouette, whispering out loud this time, "We're getting married!"

Mikoto let out a bark of laughter, which only helped to heighten your state of emotions and Izumo shook his head again as he resumed what he had been doing before the interruption. He decided to give you a small break before giving you another job to do. Anna now looked up in amazement, thinking back to what had happened when Ayame and Tatara had said that they were going to get married, and started to feel excited as well.

"Oh, how should we tell the others?" you wondered out loud. Your mood dropped as you feared that they might not approve of their King marrying someone like you, but it wasn't like you could keep something like this a secret.

"Don't worry about that," a camera wedged between the front doors of the bar seemed to say in a sing-song voice that sounded suspiciously similar to Tatara's voice.

Frank confirmed your suspicions as he barked loudly and ran around in small circles, something that he would only do when Tatara was in the vicinity. The man just had a knack for many children and animals fall in love with him.

Then Tatara himself finally entered, holding his camera up cheerfully. Ayame followed him in, looking tearful again, a huge smile on her face as though she were proud of you.

You, on the other hand, hung your head as you felt the element of surprise slipping through your fingers. But then you jumped up again, remembering Tatara's camera had been the first thing to enter the room. "Oh no you didn't...!"

Tatara's grinning face was all the answer you needed, and faking an angry look on your face, you took a step back before launching yourself over the bar. You planted your hands on top of it to lift yourself into the air, pulled your knees up as far as they would go so that your shoes wouldn't touch the counter as to not further annoy Izumo who was already watching with a pale face and a wide mouth and crouched onto the floor on the other side of the bar to save your legs from the impact. Then without getting up properly, you tackled Tatara, and all this within two seconds, before anybody could react properly.

"Not agaaaain!" Tatara wailed once his back hit the ground, again.