[A/N]: haa here we are again! And nearing the end far too fast. I fear that I still haven't been able to see the film though, so I'm afraid that my ending won't exactly fit the canon story... But we're not there yet, so let's not worry about that just yet!

Trade Yourself In
You see me and you know I am not the same, can't pretend to just fake a smile 'cause you know I feel every ounce of pain combined with the loss of a youthful mind.

By the next time you opened your eyes, quite a bit had happened in the never-pausing, constantly-awake world around you. Izumo briefed you after you had had something to eat and drink, something you were only allowed to do downstairs in the company of the others because you managed to convince him that you were feeling fine. The only reason why you had fainted in the first place was because you had felt tired all of a sudden, and not because of some sudden spell of illness, weakness, or any other such ailment.

Downstairs, you had been greeted with many concerned faces who wanted to know all about how you were feeling and why you had blacked out all of a sudden. You had cut them all short by asking what time and day it was, how long you had been out and what had happened in the meantime. They had seemed happy enough to oblige to this request of yours, telling you all about how Rikio and Misaki had gone to the Ashinaka campus to interrogate the students there. Misaki had been positive that the culprit had hidden himself there somewhere, but the search had been fruitless and had only ended in yet another confrontation between Misaki and Saruhiko.

And of course there had also been the spectacular crashing of the infamous Himmelreich: the humble abode of the Silver King. No one knew what exactly had happened, though people guessed that outsiders had managed to sneak into the division of Scepter 4 that had been planning some sort of meeting with the King, for whatever reason that might have been. Had Ayame been by the clan's side, they might have contacted Munakata for some information, but without her they dared not cross paths with him. Especially not when Mikoto had apparently let himself get captured in order to give HOMRA more freedom in their movements, or so Izumo had claimed.

Anyway, whatever the reason, Scepter 4 had tried to contact the King by using helicopters, though for more unknown reasons one of these helicopters had crashed into the blimp's engines, which had caused the Himmelreich to explode. No subsequent news had been released since the incident, and all were left to wonder and hypothesise on what had actually happened. HOMRA members had made it a game to find the most bizarre explanations for the crash, though deep down they all knew, or at least guessed, that it had something to do with their own murderer as well. Had they wanted the King's help in their search for this self-proclaimed 'Colourless King'? Whatever the case, HOMRA had not given up their own search for their friend's murderer.

Soon after the summary of the past few days had been told, most of the boys went out to do whatever they did at this time of day, until the only people left in the bar were Izumo, Misaki, Rikio, Anna and you. Anna sat down on a couch opposite to the bar, having placed her marbles on the table before her and watching them roll around while the others began to ask you questions about what had happened with Ayame.

"What did she say? Or rather, what did iyou/i say?" Rikio inquired, curious as to what had caused Ayame's sudden reaction.

"And what did she do to you? All that we could see was your aura, and something green that came out of it?" Misaki added before you could reply.

You looked down at the hands that you had placed in your lap, not sure whether you were allowed to tell them about her. But then again, did it really matter if they knew it? They were going to find out sooner or later, weren't they? The guilt didn't fade away at your justification as you shrugged before you replied, "Ayame... She's pregnant. I asked her if she was going to be careful, but that only seemed to make it all worse. The green, however... I believe she has managed to further develop her Strain powers. Maybe she's been able to find a way to heal us despite our auras? Something long-term?"

The men remained silent at hearing the news, though Izumo had already known.

In the end, all that Misaki said was, "Damn, that sucks." Rikio nodded his agreement to his friend's statement, but nobody knew what else to say.

"But you're feeling better now, right?" Rikio asked after a few moments of silence.

You nodded in response, glad for the diversion. "It seems that Ayame's... aura, as it were, had already done a lot to help my recovery. It wasn't as if everything began to hurt, I was just really tired, I guess. Don't worry about me, I've just slept for three days straight!"

"I'd almost call that a record, if it weren't for a certain King of ours who loves to laze around all day," Izumo piped up, at which Rikio and you had to chuckle in agreement. Misaki, on the other hand, crossed his arms and seemed to want to deny his King having any such shortcoming.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to protest, a single spoken word broke the spell and pulled everyone's attention.

"Mikoto..." was all that Anna murmured and everyone in the bar turned to see that one of her marbles had begun to float in the air, glowing as it did so. As if you all had been trained for this very moment and purpose, as if this was some sort of secret codeword, everyone at once knew what it meant.

Grins broke out on the faces of Rikio and Misaki, and you shared a knowing look with Izumo, who stopped what he had been doing behind the bar.

"Let's go," he said just as he stepped out from behind the counter, his phone already in his hand, updating those absent at once.

Within moments, the bar was empty, except for Frank, who lay asleep under a table.

You barely remembered anything of the walk. In the beginning, you hadn't even realised where you were headed, that's how fogged up your mind seemed to be. Anna had been the one leading the way, one small hand holding Izumo's while another held onto yours, tugging the two of you along. Rikio and Misaki followed behind, and soon Shouhei and Saburouta, the only other clan members in the near vicinity, joined the group as well.

All you could recall of the trip was that, even when the group still had quite a distance to go before they arrived at the headquarters of Scepter 4, you could already feel the prickle of a certain aura. Explosions accompanied the feeling, almost overwhelming some of the members, but everyone pushed on. They were eager to rejoin with their King.

"Come on, we're going to be late!" Misaki called out all of a sudden. Done with the pace at which you had been walking, he broke out into a run.

Shouhei and Saburouta, filling the air with energetic yells of their own, soon followed him. Rikio sighed and began to mutter something under his breath before he jogged after the others. That left you and Izumo being tagged along by Anna, who looked rather frustrated with her lack of long legs. Despite the fact that she was running, though at a pace that she would be able to maintain for quite a while, the bartender and you could easily keep up with her by simply speed walking.

"Don't worry, Anna. We'll get there in time," Izumo said in order to reassure the girl, who nodded in response.

And you did. The others stood in front of the gate that lead to the courtyard surrounding Scepter 4's headquarters. They were staring in awe and shock at the flames the shot out of the building. As you joined them, you could barely make out a silhouette in the smoke that gathered and filled the air in the aftermath of the flames that had engulfed the building's entrance only moments ago.

A group of Blues stood in front of the gate, talking to each other, probably trying to figure out what they were supposed to do with the current situation. People of their rank could never dream of lifting a finger against any King, let alone the Red King. Still, that didn't mean they weren't planning on at least trying, or so it seemed, and none other than Awashima stepped forward to address Mikoto, trying to get him to back down

The man didn't react. Instead, he simply carried on sauntering towards the gate, acting as though there weren't any enemies nearby. You saw Awashima unsheathe her sword and use her trademark attack, slashing the air twice. Her aura became visible and began to form a net that flew towards the King, whose aura didn't even have to flare in order to dissipate the attack.

The Blues blocked your view from everything that happened after that, and you weren't the only one straining to see past the rival clansmen to catch site of the King. It didn't take long for him to act, and you felt more than that you saw the sudden burst of his flames as he gathered them around him. Then a wall of fire appeared, shooting high into the sky, spreading out and throwing loose bricks and rubble about as it caused explosion after explosion in the direction of Awashima and her squad. A wall of blue appeared before them, but it only managed to hold back so much before it was blown away, red flames swallowing the Blue soldiers and blowing the gates that had separated you from the yard up, along with the fences that had been attached to it.

The shockwaves of the attack sent your hair blowing about, and Anna held onto her hat for dear life. You kept an eye out for her safety, but she didn't seem to acknowledge her surroundings. She stared at the flames in awe, a tiny smile visible on her face.

It seemed to take far too long until you could finally see Mikoto making his way towards you through the smoke, ignoring the Blues that lay scattered to the sides. They didn't dare attack him again, and should be glad that he spared their lives at all.

The moment he stepped through the ruins of the gate, everyone began to greet him. Izumo greeted him with a casual 'Yo!' while the others gave a slight bow. Anna ran to his side the very moment she dared to, her small hands clasping his wrist when she reached him. He looked down at her for a moment before Izumo pulled his attention once more.

"You finally found your target?" the bartender inquired.

Mikoto waited before answering, his gaze gliding over to you first. His eyes met yours and you found the corners of your mouth quirking up into a small smile. Though his face remained passive, his look was all you needed to see in order to gauge his reaction at the reunion. Your heart felt like bursting at finally seeing him again. You wanted to run up to him, to wrap your arms around him and to kiss like you had never kissed him before. Perhaps even a bit more than that. But you knew that, right now, he didn't exactly belong to you, so you'd have to wait until you got home again to have a... proper reunion. According to the look in his eyes, he felt much the same way.

"He's at the school on the island," he finally answered, allowing himself a smirk.

The news elicited a lot of excitement from the HOMRA members, though Misaki's reaction was the loudest.

"I knew it! I thought so! Right?!" he began to yell, pumping his fist into the air and looking over at Rikio for confirmation. He celebrated his victory for a while longer before Mikoto announced that they should go at once.

With Anna holding onto one hand, he made his way closer to the group. Once he got there, he reached out for yours with his free one, forcing you to walk beside him as the other members began to make their way towards their destination. At the same time, everyone around you began to chatter eagerly, happy that their King was back by their sides.

Now it was time to bring Tatara's murderer to justice.