The carriage was beautiful.
Ornaments of gold, silver, diamonds and other forms of jewelry and accessories decorated the highly prestigious means of transportation. Curtains of satin and fabric of the finest velvet furnished the inside. It was cozy, really.
Having traveled through the night, dawn was breaking. The first rays of the warm sun kissed Izaya's dress. It was a morning as beautiful as it could get.
But to Izaya it couldn't be more freezing. To the core of his chest he felt the pressure of his father. If the driver. The king he was to meet. The charade.
It caused a certain feeling of suffocation not too different from his illness.
Nauseous.
"We are almost there Lady Kururi!"
The words cut the silence like an executioner a neck. He had chosen to go by Kururi's name. Seeing how she never talked it was easier to execute. A timid and boring wife was better than one revealed to be a man after all.
Raising his hand, covered in a silky white travel glove he brushed the curtain aside. Forests of vivid green and meadows filled with flowers and life came to his vision.
A hill, not too far, proudly stood in the middle of what seemed to be the center of the clearing. A glittering river drew its course around the grand building, keeping its habitants safe and outsiders out.
Just as the carriage, the former king seemed to have been a fan of showing his wealth.
Golden engravings and marble had been used wherever possible. Windows set with coloured glass throned on the highest tower creating a mesmerizing sight. It was equally beautiful as it was secure- it took a certain kind of genius to balance both in equal fairness.
Stuttering shortly the carriage sped up. With the goal in sight the white horses were probably looking forward to their stalls as much as the king's messenger to his own wife and children.
A fleeting feeling of dread filled Izaya.
He could run.
Right now.
Jump out of the carriage and bail. Just run as fast as he could. Undress. No one would look for a man when it was a future queen that was missing.
He could leave- right now, before this whole tragedy took its turn.
But his body remained still.
He couldn't.
He knew what could potentially happen to his sisters if he did.
Just the thought of fleeing and searching for his sisters only to find their corpses-
Torn-
Abused-
Shaking his head quickly, Izaya chased away an upcoming way of nausea.
No.
The carriage slowed down.
He had to do this.
The door opened.
And he had to excel at his role.
"Lady Kururi!" It was a grand entrance really. The carriage had stopped right in front of the castle's gates. Swinging open they had presented an array of servants neatly arranged in two rows. The headbutler was who had spoken the words. A long beard was decorating his face and he bowed along with his staff as he spoke. Of course. He was to become the new queen.
"In the name of the king I warmly welcome you to your new home."
Having taken the hand of the king's messenger as soon as he had offered, Izaya carefully stepped out of the carriage. It was a foreign experience having to pay attention to the rest of his clothes so as to not fall while doing so.
"The king?" he questioned softly, while trying to keep his voice as quiet and feminine as possible. Goosebumps traveled down his back as the butler seemed to hesitate.
Was he already busted? Going to be hanged? Executed? Burnt-?
"I am afraid the king has yet to return."
Ah.
Relief washed across Izaya's skin. Right. It was unbecoming for the king to not meet his bride. The servants were merely trying to come up with a good excuse. "But instead may I give you company and show you around?" the butler offered and gestured to the entrance of the castle.
"I would love to."
Great. That sounded generous, ladylike and sweet. Relieved swayed the servants' faces. "Then if you would follow me-"
The castle was impressive. Not only by its appearance but also by the interior. Climbing high the stone walls met at the ceiling with paintings all across. Ornaments of old Armory and trophies of old battles filled every window ledge with pride. Gold, silver, various kinds of metals Izaya had never seen had been used for the most simplest things. A particularly fancy object was the huge chandelier in the middle of the castle's hall. A few servants were in the middle of polishing it to perfection as they entered the hall.
"Ah, Milady!" one of the female servants gasped surprised, causing her friends to drop what they were doing immediately.
"Please, continue," Izaya quickly cleared his throat watching the maid's as they struggled to detangle their dresses from the hundreds of candles surrounding them.
A grateful smile flashed before they bowed gratefully on the spot.
"Will it be ready in time?" The butler asked gently. "Of course, sir, as usual."
The maids chuckled and the butler cleared his throat. "These wonderful ladies are yours to command milady. They will be responsible for dressing, washing and calling to every single one of your needs.
"We look forward to you, your majesty."
It was funny. Considering the rumors revolving around the former king and his even more violent and abhorred son Izaya had suspected a rather timid staff. Scared. Vengeful. Maybe both. But this was none of that.
The opposite.
The maids were relaxed, at ease. They seemed to love their job and the head butler seemed to be making an extra effort to give a proper first impression. Looking around Izaya could find no trace of violence or detest.
Then again, in matters of appearances his father held the crown. No stranger would expect anything there either at first glance.
"The Lord should arrive any moment now." One of the maid's suddenly said sheepishly. "Sorry, you seemed like you were looking for him."
"Hey Mika, that's impolite to address the lady like that-" another quickly hissed.
Izaya couldn't help but chuckle softly.
"Thank you." The timid girl's face beamed and she nodded quickly before lowering her gaze respectfully.
Izaya didn't expect the new king to be here in the first place. After the king's death there was a lot to be arranged. He had to make his presence shown for the folk to spread a sense of security…. or dominance. One of the two was needed to prevent commotions. His father obviously ruled with the latter.
Mindlessly he reached out for one of the jewels dangling from a candle holder. It had already been polished. Beautiful and sparkling.
"What event are you preparing this for?" Soft chuckles met his ears and he blinked.
Even the butler seemed to be mildly amused. The timid girl grinned happily.
"Your wedding of course!"
Ah.
"It will take place next week." the butler explained, "I know, according to the belated king's dying wish, the ceremony should be executed the moment you arrive at the castle, but-" but Izaya didn't really listen anymore.
Next week.
Already.
That's when he was going to die.
A sudden flash of chills and nausea raced down his throat.
As if having been thrown into drowning water.
"Is that alright, milady?" Reverting his attention to the butler, Izaya gave a quick nod.
"Ah, yes, I'm looking forward to it."
The words tasted like bile on his tongue.
"LONG LIVE THE KING!" loud the words bellowed through the entirety of the massive castle prompting the butler to take a few hasty but dignified steps towards the window.
"Thank god, the king has returned!" Mimicking their superior's mood the maids hurriedly gathered their skirts to detangle themselves from the chandelier.
"Prepare a meal, set up the bath- What about the king's wish regarding the lady´s room?" Dozens of commands and questions quickly flew from the butler´s lips in quick succession. None of the maids seemed to mind, however, as they happily nodded to every word.
Izaya wasn't paying much attention to them.
Dress brushing across the cold marble stairs he had a hard time moving without stumbling as he walked down the aisle.
His goal was the main entrance.
The king.
Like iron burning flesh, the rumors spreading all across the country had acted like a tumor to the king´s reputation. His violence and cruelty were at the very top of the list of qualities being held.
To Izaya he was like a black shadow in a dark hallway. Mysterious. Dangerous. Inducing fear of a kind he couldn't quite stomach. He wanted to see him. He wanted to pull the shadow into the sun so he knew what he was working with.
Steps hurrying up he stepped through the gate- and it was as if someone had thrown him into war.
Blood. Ragged bodies holding onto horses. Exhausted soldiers, carriages covered by deathly blankets.
Izaya had expected a glamorous return. He had thought the king had been on some kind of preemptive trip to get acquainted with his folks, the common people and the ladies and lords ruling the smaller fractions of his land. But this-
The stench of rotten flesh and burnt wounds polluted the air. Horses neighed in anguish of their wounds scattered across their bodies. Metal hit metal with disturbingly clear sound as the knights advanced.
It was no glamorous return of a ruler. It was a homecoming after a campaign.
Stilling by the gate, Izaya's eyes quickly flew past the dozens of unfamiliar faces.
A king was to be found between them.
So he searched for ornaments. For people riding just a bit too close to one unharmed horse. He searched for a man that had not participated in the fight but willingly sent his men to death instead. A cruel ruler, a man like his father.
What he found was nothing he had thought.
In the middle of the crowd, on a horse just as run down as anyone else´s, he spotted a man. His armor had turned black by the amount of blood sticking to his body.
No one was protecting the rider. No unnecessary ornaments gave away his status. And yet the moment Izaya laid eyes onto him he knew it was him.
Blond hair dyed red in various places and an expression of anger tormented brown eyes. Raw strength replaced the aura of aristocracy Izaya would have expected a king to have as the ruler advanced with stubborn authority.
"Burn them over there!" A voice like honey, but loud as a drum bellowed across the area. He jumped off the horse, just at the main entrance and for a split second their eyes met.
A glare settled deep in his eyes. But the king had no second to spare it seemed as he turned away. There was no greeting, no acceptance, nothing.
Frozen in place, Izaya found himself quite flabbergasted, by both the sight of the knight´s condition and the king´s behavior. Stricken with silence his eyes wandered instead. Pushing the carriages like their lord had told them to, they advanced.
Izaya knew what was underneath the blankets. He could smell the blood. The death.
And like a strike of fate it was just then that one of the wooden wheels broke. Cursing under their breaths the knights quickly scurried and tried to hold the wagon in place but they couldn't quite keep it from tilting slightly.
And they certainly couldn't prevent it when one corpse slipped from the pile.
Hollow, like the sound a sack of potatoes makes when it hits the floor, the body met the ground.
Izaya had never seen a corpse.
His father had done everything in his power to never be called to war under any circumstance. It was due to the duke 's laziness and egoistic lifestyle that Izaya had had the luxury of never having joined a battlefield.
And that fact made the eyes of that man only seem that much worse. Flesh torn in places no man would want it to tear, blood seeping from inflamed wounds- maggots coming from god knows where filling ears, mouth and eyes. The guy was middle aged. Heavy, wearing a beard- nothing like Izaya, and yet suddenly Izaya couldn't help but think about his own corpse.
Maggots gnawing mazes into his flesh, filling his lungs and eyes. About the earth weighing on his body as he was being buried. Flaming gnawing at his bones in case he was burnt- because that's what his fate was.
That's what he was going to be.
Dead.
In one week.
The air suddenly grew heavy as Izaya tried to drive away hot flashes of chills battling in his body. Heavy coughs ripped from his lips.
He couldn't breathe-
"Milady?!"
Only faintly he heard one of the servants call his sister´s name.
Ah, right. That's who he was pretending to be.
But he couldn't reply, couldn't say a thing as everything turned black.
To be continued~
Hehehehe well well, we finally saw Shizuo xD Even if it was short haha But no worries! He will shine a lot more next chapter xD
*Alright guys, so I have some Shizaya news~! xDI'm pulling the 50 Shades of Gray move xD For those who don't know:
That book?
It was originally a fanfiction of "Twilight" xD The author "originified" the story aka swapped names, appearance (kinda not so much lol) and yah some general Twilightish-stuff xD
Cuz who likes being sued for copyright infringement?
Right, no one xD
SO
Why am I telling you this?
Because I´m doing the same with my Shizaya xD
Starting November 10th 2022 I will be releasing MONTHLY shizaya BOOKS xDDD
What does that exactly mean? Well, for instance, Behind closed doors has been reworked by me, aka I swapped Izaya/Shizuo/Shinra´s names and I deleted/reworked some very obvious DRRR stuff, like "Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, "Izaya" is no "informant", (but something equally sly lol) etc xD Shizuo has no inhuman strength, Celty is no Dullahan, you get the gist :3
But the plot, the dialogues, the gayy all stayed the same :3 I came up with slightly tuned versions of their characters so everything made sense and in general overhauled the story xD
"Originified" if you will xDD I'm also going to draw a cover with the new appearance haha
As to why I'm doing this:
#1 Honestly I just wanna hold some real book versions of my stories lmao
#2 Not gonna lie, just in case I make enough money to live of this, I might just quit my job and become a full fledged writer lmao
Shizaya, original reworks/ children's books (already have 700 pages of that at home too xD) No matter what, my mind is a constant stream of plotlines and I need to write them down anyway so it would be kinda awesome to have more time for that xD
So if you ever wanted to support me in some way, or just love one my stories so much you wished you had a real life copy of it - well this is your chance xDD I just hope you don't get eye seizures from the name swap xD
I plan to release the books on amazon via self publishing per following schedule:
(I will give you a rough schedule for now, but I should be able to release on those exact dates)
An entire Volume of Behind closed doors which will contain the complete story (only 3 chapters left haha) beginning till end on: 10th November 2022
Sinful Desire volume 1 of (2 I guess, might be 3 or more lol) will be coming out 10th December 2022
The wish to disappear the complete story with over 500 pages will be on amazon on 10th January 2023 (Yes this one is getting an originified version as well xD "Izaya" is a doctor in this one lol)
Survival of the doomed Volume 1 (of 3) on 10th February 2023
I want to stay with you forever (New title: Forced Contract) part 1 of 2 with 500 pages on 10th March 2023 (Yes this one is getting an originified version as well xD I'm cringing so hard at my writing style xDD this needs a HUGE overhaul hahaha)
A single touch the complete story on 10th April 2023
Shingeki no Shizuo (new Title: Voluntold) (1 of 2) will be released on 10th May 2023 (For those wondering about how the hell I "originified" DRRR and Attack on titans: It's now a military thriller in a warzone with Izaya as the stationed captain and Shizuo being one of his soldiers, just so you get a feeling how I switched things up xD)
Survival of the doomed part 2 (of 3) on 10th June 2023
Impostor (Volume 1) 10th July 2023
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY
✨✨Yultesra ✨✨ Volume ⅓ on 10th August 2023
And this my friends is the heart of all this, it's the 1st volume of an original fantasy Trilogy that I have been writing on for 10 years xD I thought up an entirely new world, a magic system, curious cultures, 48 different creatures of various kind, a staff of like 25 main characters and creepy pastas along with some horror elements at times xD And of course a healthy spice of romance and drama xD
This is the reason I have been writing fanfiction. To practise for this Trilogy xD And after having written 1.000.000 words- (yes really) I started writing this story down xD
I will give a more detailed Update on this once it's truly published on amazon haha 3
Might even do a reverse "originify" and convert it into a shizaya story afterwards and post it here lmao xD Just for the hell of it xD
Shingeki no Shizuo (Voluntold) part 2 on 10th September 2023
10th October 2023 will be the rework of a new Shizaya story Go to hell (Volume 1 of 2) which I'm starting as soon as bcd ends xD (aka in a month xD) it's got a demonic theme and takes place in well… literal hell xD I'm so digging this haha just think of it, Shizuo with demonic eyes~ COUGH anyway xD More to that later hahaha
Yultesra Volume 2/3 on 10th November 2023
Sinful Desire Volume 2 on 10th December 2023
That's it for 2023, there is more planned ahead for 2024 as well, but let´s discern that when the time comes hahaha
For anyone who's interested, Yultesra 3/3 will be released on 2nd March 2024 (My siblings birthday) :3 And after that I will be writing the Prequel to the story xD But I don't have a fixed date in mind for that one yet haha
Oh and just to be clear, all of this stays gay xD Like, a relative asked why I don't make Izaya female in the new "originified" versions so it would be a straight romance and more "mainstream" and like, "bought more often"- and I was like dude
no xD
I might hope to sell a few copies to be able to write more, but not at the price of my soul xD
That's not how the stories were written. I may have to adjust the characters´ names and looks a little for law reasons, but that's it x'DD
Besides, the world needs more gay romance stories 3 I have been binge reading "Scumbag villain system" ever since it got released on amazon I can only recommend this soooooooo hard
xD I love it - I'm so hyped for season 2 of it´s animated version and the final volume 4 hahaha xD
If you guys have any good recommendations I'm all ears C; Also non gay, I'm reading Patrick Rotfuß "Kingkiller chronicles" at the moment for example and god fucking damn- I'm digging this so hard xD
So see you people in the next update and look forward to 10th July 2023 and the Impostor book announcement 3 I will drop a link to amazon xD
