It was a peaceful day in the DWMA. It wasn't for the Ouran-verse, but all was quiet on the Shibusen front.
At least for now.
Black-Star and Tsubaki were up on the roof-spires, simply because, at that time of day, they were a cool and shady place to sit. And private too, for the most part: most of the Not Class couldn't get up there, and most of the Eat Class was too refined to try.
"You know," Black-Star was saying, "this Death Emperor guy hasn't really done anything to us, now that I think about it."
"Well, yeah, of course not," said Tsubaki. "He would have to be an absolute moron, to give us reason whatsoever to ally with Ohtori when we're not even part of his realm to start with."
"Huh," said Black-Star. "But, I haven't exactly seen a whole lot of horror stories about the way this guy treats weapons. Asura had a worse reputation than this guy. We might even have a worse reputation than this guy."
"Asura was a god of madness, Ohtori's dad is a god of death. Tsubaki shrugged. "And death, as a rule, is largely indifferent towards humans," she said. "He benefits from the system, but he does not seem to actively enforce the enslavement of weapons."
"So, what," said Black-Star, "he's secretly opposed to it?"
"No," said Tsubaki, "he just doesn't seem to care."
"He's not a bad guy, then," said Black-Star. "He's just not a good guy either?"
Tsubaki shook her head. "To stand aside and let an injustice take its course is wrong," she agreed. "He's protecting those in power, and, to end weapon oppression, we must challenge him. The thing is, we're concerned with results here. Yeah, on a personal level, the Death Emperor doesn't appear to be that bad of a guy... and on a personal level, Ohtori doesn't seem to be that good of a guy, either—if he had been able to inherit legitimately, he probably wouldn't have allied himself with the weapons at all—but he's on our side, so we'll fight to put him in charge of things."
"Huh," said Black-Star, struck by the oddities and subtle morality of political alliances.
"Yeah," said Tsubaki, who shared his disdain. There was a reason that she was a ninja, and not a diplomat, and it wasn't just because she was a weapon.
"That's why the Alliance is the one luring him into that trap..." said Black-Star, "because the guy wouldn't want to attack us first."
Tsubaki nodded. "Exactly."
"So," said Black-Star, seeming confused, "if the fight's happening there, why are we still in Shibusen?"
"Because, my dear meister, we're the reserves," said Tsubaki. "Shit will most likely hit the fan before day's end, and that's when we'll join in."
Black-Star grinned.
In the distance, five colorful figures flew through the air, spreading chaos and zillium in their wake. They were still distracted by the clouds for the moment, and not yet interested in their new surroundings.
The smoking wreckage of the recreational wing sat there, quietly burning itself down to ashes, while the inhabitants ran around in carefully organized panic.
There was no way, Kyoya had thought, that his father would be able to resist striking them when they were weak. And so, they had demolished one of their gyms in a fiery explosion that they hoped would look like an accident.
The gathering battleships in the distance seemed to agree that it had. The Alliance had a few ships themselves, courtesy of Shibusen piracy, and so they would be able to hold the Empire off for a time. Kyoya stepped through a portal and onto the deck of a rather nondescript ship. It was not the flagship. That would have been entirely too obvious.
No, the flagship, they'd rigged up to pilot entirely by automation, seeing as it practically had a sign on its engines saying, 'shoot me first!'
So far, things seemed to be shaping up into a fairly even match.
All according to plan, thus far, thought Kyoya, satisfied.
"Ohtori-san!" said a breathless messenger.
Or not.
"What?" Kyoya asked him.
"Those Cats who escaped Shibusen?" said the messenger, wringing his hands in nervousness.
"They're attacking the Alliance now, aren't they?" asked Kyoya, putting two and two together.
"Yes," he said. "And a lot more of the Death Scythes were Witches than we anticipated..."
Kyoya sighed. "I'll be right there," he said.
AN: Not much happening yet. 48 and 49 are basically 'don't freak out, the story isn't abandoned' chapters. The major writer's block blocs for me will probably be 50 and 53-56.
Think I'm gonna have to work nights, so I don't know when the next update will be.
