Gadfly Productions Presents:
Sword of Kings
By socchan
On Monday there had been a story in an English paper. Hakuba, recognizing it as pertaining to a probable Kid target, clipped it.
Ancient Sword Found In Churchyard Outside London
Yesterday, in a startling discovery, a sword was found buried in debris in a churchyard just outside London. William Thomas, 31, recounts his adventure:
"I'd just moved into town a few weeks ago and noticed that the old church graveyard was in a terrible state. I decided to go in on weekends to clean it up a bit. Unfortunately, before I'd gotten much work done, I fell and hit my leg on a tombstone. It felt like something was broken and I didn't want to move, but no one knew where I was so I knew I had to get to help. I reached out to find something to lean on and I grabbed onto the sword handle. When I managed to get myself to my feet to look for perhaps a fallen branch to use as a crutch, I found that I had only lightly sprained my ankle instead of the break I had expected. I managed to hobble my way to a phone, got a ride to a doctor's office, and came back later to find what I had grabbed—only this time, I brought help!"
The blade is encased in clay from five inches below the hilt, but is imagined to be around two feet in length. An orb of what appears to be quartz is imbedded in the pommel. The sword is being shipped to Japan for further study and state-of-the-art restoration methods. (More on 8A)
-----
On Tuesday, there was a small, related article buried in the back of the same paper. Hakuba also clipped this, because sometimes it paid to be thorough.
Occultists in Uproar
All over London, and indeed, the British Isles, occultists are up in arms over the recently discovered Celtic sword being sent to Japan. "It's obviously Caliburn, the first sword carried by Arthur Pendragon," Emma Smith, 43, explains. "You won't be able to get it out of that clay without the help of the One True King. It's a sign of the coming of the Aquarian Age."
Michael Newton, 27, disagrees. "I've been a Pagan all my life. By normal standards, I believe some pretty odd things, but claiming that we need King Arthur just to remove an old sword from some clay is ridiculous." Despite how he feels about the Arthur correlation, Newton feels that the sword should remain in England. "It's our history, we should be the ones to study it."
In Hakuba's opinion, some people needed stronger medications.
-----
On Wednesday there was an article in the local paper. He clipped this as well, though he hardly needed to do more than glance at the title to see where events were headed ("Celtic Sword Comes to Ekoda for Study").
-----
On Thursday, there was a notice in the paper. Hakuba clipped this with a feeling of tidying up loose ends and filed it with the rest.
Tomorrow at eleven, I will collect the Celtic sword.
—Kaitou Kid
-----
Friday night found Hakuba guarding an ancient sword from a modern thief in the anthropology department of the local university.
The sword itself wasn't much to look at, Hakuba felt. The blade was tarnished and stained, the crystal it was topped with virtually opaque near the center, and he could barely tell that what was wound around the hilt had once been leather. Really, he thought the thief would have had better taste. Of course, he'd also thought Kid had given up on stealing heavier objects; this heist broke two conventions.
Eleven o'clock came and went with the members of the task force becoming gradually more restless. Inspector Nakamori's vocabulary had gone from 'not to be used in front of children or in polite company' to 'watch that you don't summon a demon by saying this in the wrong order'. Hakuba himself was feeling rather nervous, and nearly jumped three feet in the air when the officer next to him sneezed.
In an effort to get his racing pulse under control, Hakuba fished out a handkerchief and handed it to the man. "Thanks, kid."
Hakuba frowned; he recognized that voice. Realization dawned on him and he cried out, "It's the Kid! Get him!"
He really shouldn't have been surprised when the lights went out, but he'd been too busy diving for the phony officer to notice. He cursed when his hands closed on empty air and familiar laughter echoed around the room.
Suddenly, the room was illuminated to reveal the Kaitou Kid lofting the blade in question above his head. The clay that had encased it lay on the floor, half shattered and half clean shorn. Hakuba noticed with some surprise that not only was the blade suddenly clean and the leather fresh, but the crystal at the top had gone translucent. Perhaps most surprising was the fact that the light came not from electronics or even the gem on the pommel but the sword blade itself.
At that point the Kid apparently decided the situation had gotten too dangerous and set off some pink-tinted sleeping gas.
Hakuba awoke to find himself on the roof. He wasn't sure how much later it was, though it appeared to still be the night of the heist. With a groan Hakuba sat up, only to have the flat of a blade suspended inches from his face.
"What does it say?" Kid demanded.
Hakuba frowned at the gilded text. It was in Old English, which was even more foreign to modern English than the Middle English that Shakespeare used. Hakuba frowned and scrounged at his mental facilities for a rough translation. As soon as the meaning of the words became apparent, the world came crashing down around him.
For a moment, Hakuba's innate desire to catch the Kid warred with his innate sense of being British. After a brief struggle, being British won out.
"'Who so ever pulls out this sword,'" Hakuba heard himself translate, "'is the Once and Future King.'"
For a long moment, the Kid was silent. At last he asked, "So if I'm King Arthur, who does that make you—Merlin or Lancelot?"
Hakuba considered the answer carefully. "In all honesty? Probably both."
-----
There were a few more articles on Saturday. One of them detailed the loss of an ancient Celtic sword while it was being sent to Japan for research; it appeared in a few newspapers in England and Japan and was quickly forgotten.
The other one was only four words long, and hidden deep in newspaper ads all over the world. In every newspaper, in fact, and Hakuba was rather hesitant to ask how it had been done. For months afterwards, people talked about the message in the text:
The King has returned.
—End—
Basic notes:
Kaito - Arthur, Merlin
Hakuba -Lancelot, Merlin
Aoko -Guinevere, Morgana
Akako - Morgana, Nimue (chief lady of the lake)
Caliburn: An old name for Excalibur. There are two sword origin tales, one of which involves Arthur pulling the sword from the stone; the other involves him receiving it from Nimue. In order to fit both stories into the same timeline without a continuity error, the first one is said to have broken.
Powers of first sword: Glows when wielded by One True King, can only be pulled from the stone by One True King.
Powers of second sword: Nothing much, really. Not Arthur's exclusive property; the scabbard keeps the user from shedding as much blood, though. Returned to Nimue upon Arthur's weakening/death.
Thanks to Summercloud for beta reading.
Thanks also to Jason, a friend of mine, for the information on Excalibur's appearance. It was mixed and matched with data found at Alternative Arthur (whose web address will not allow me to include here, de-link it as I may), and this fic would not be what it is without your help.
Feedback appreciated.
Disclaimer: Magic Kaito is the property of Aoyama Gosho; the Arthurian legend is from a long, long time ago, and is not mine.