Summary: Victory comes at a cost, someone we thought was dead is alive, and new mysteries are unraveled. Lots of angst, a bit of fluff, and a LOT of cool stuff, I hope y'all like it.
Sanemi felt the wind blowing in his hair, as the shock set in… slowly he looked down at his abdomen, and saw the blade of the pillar whom he had come to see as a little brother; held in the hand of this demon… and sticking into his gut, his blood was soaking his uniform, and dripping down to the deck…
"SHINAZUGAWA!" Giyuu called out to him, he tried to get up and run to him but his step was awkward and he fell back down to the ground, unable to even notice it in time to catch his fall; the after-effects of Stuhac's attack had left his nerves shot… He looked around, Zenitsu was unconscious, so was the mysterious female slayer, Inosuke didn't look good at all, he was lying in a pool of his own blood, and Sanemi who was right in front of him… slumped to the ground, with a Nichirin sword still in his stomach.
"I think I like this sword better" Remarked Solovonov holding up Sanemi's blade and admiring it, "it has a more viscous feel to it than the other one, but alas…" he noticed the glints of light beginning to reflect on the metal of the blade, "But alas… It appears I have failed to acquire what I wanted the most in the end, although this blade does have a vicious beauty to it."
Solovonov looked over to the Horizon as its light began to reflect stronger off of the metal.
"The Sun is up… Blin! … then that means Yushiro is dead, and so is my chance of getting the serum, I've played with the lot of you for too long." He turned to the defeated slayers lying on the floor.
"You… you bastard..." Sanemi croaked out "J… just fucking disintegrate already…"
"Why would I disintegrate?" replied Stuhac, "I've conquered the sun…. Mr. Tomioka Giyuu"
He said turning to address the only other conscious slayer, "I respect you greatly as a fighter, had you stayed down the first time you went down I would have gladly let you live, but as I'm sure you'll be able to understand, I'm pretty pissed off that my plans went to shit, I'll be killing everyone on this ship, starting with you…"
Giyuu stared Stuhac down. "You've already killed my master, and I've already failed to avenge him, This demon slayer mark will kill me in less than a year anyway, go ahead and kill me, I only ask… that you let my colleagues go."
Stuhac was impressed, "You didn't even try to bargain for the passengers on this ship? Is that because they are strangers to you, or because you knew that it was futile to try asking for so much?"...
Tomioka Giyuu tilted his head back, being honest he hadn't even really thought about that… "I'm really that cold huh" He thought to himself. He almost chuckled at the thought of what Shinobu might say. "It's that cold-personality of yours that drives people away Tomioka-San, this is why people dislike you"
"Hmph, the worst part about dying might be having to listen to that annoying voice of yours again when I see you in the next world… Kocho-San… then again, I probably won't be going to the same place as you..." He looked up at the morning sky as his thoughts turned to his late sister, she and Shinobu would have probably gotten along… They were both selfless souls, both of them lived to help others… which was the only reason he was alive… "Nee-Chan… I'm sorry, in the end, I really did fail, after you gave your life to save me… Sabito, I'm sorry too… I hope at least you'll understand that I tried… I tried to live my life as you would have… I tried..."
"Mr. Tomioka Giyuu," said Solovonov approaching him, "You have accepted your defeat like a warrior-king, you were very strong. Your colleague Sanemi has rare blood, as you can see I avoided his vitals so that he will live, and I will savor his taste for last, but you, I will not eat, out of respect for you, I shall kill you painlessly, and while there is no saving the other two lying there," he said pointing to Inosuke and Zaya with Sanemi's sword "I will spare the yellow-headed one… and Shu Yong, and the rest of the passengers."
"Yeah, that's fair..." Giyuu closed his eyes as the Demon approached.
"Tomioka…. Snap the fuck outta it!" Sanemi called, but his voice did not reach him, he wasn't able to shout, he was losing blood and strength. "That bastard… don't tell me he has already given up!"
Giyuu looked perfectly at peace, even as Sanemi helplessly watched his own sword raised above his friend's neck…
In Giyuu's mind, he saw faces flash before him.
His sister's, Urokodaki's, Tanjiro's kind eyes… Sabito… Sabito looked angry at him!
-SLASH-
Giyuu's eyes shot open, his right arm was in the air, his blade too, Stuhac's arm went flying across the deck, Sanemi's blade in hand. It pierced into the deck, and the demon's arm disintegrated…
Giyuu was dumbfounded, he had just saved himself unconsciously.
"I take back everything I said about you Mr. Tomioka" said a livid Stuhac raising his left hand, lightning dancing between his fingers. "I'll still kill you first, but now you'll die slowly."
-THWAP!-
Giyuu felt a gentle ocean spray as Stuhac's face scrunched up, and he stumbled backward grabbing at the air around it,
"I can't see! Blyat! I can't see!" The demon grunted angrily.
Giyuu then thought he heard Muichiro's voice, grunting and screaming angrily as though he were struggling against Stuhac, but he couldn't see Muichiro anywhere!
Stuhac stumbled around then grabbed something in the air and threw it across the deck. Muichiro appeared in front of them as one of Yushiro's invisibility cards was ripped off of him, and he skid across the wet deck, shirtless, and hurt all over, but still alive.
Stuhac grabbed the invisible shirt of Muichiro's slayer's uniform that had been wrapped around his face, soaked and heavy with seawater, he let it drop to the deck with a plop.
"You..." Solovonov addressed the mist-pillar in an even tone… "I wonder how you made it back here… but more importantly, why Yuichiro's blood demon art is still working, is he still alive."
Muichiro slowly got back up to his feet, "Your not getting him!" he snapped at Solovonov, "Your not getting any of us!" He pulled Sanemi's blade from out of the deck, it shook in his small hands, which were trembling, not from fear, but from anger, and Stuhac sensed this.
"A Child's courage is most impressive, but it doesn't matter, you are still no threat to me, you remind me exactly of how I was when I was a small human child, too angry to notice that he is scared, too angry to notice that he is on the verge of tears."
" You should be" Muichiro retorted back, holding Sanemi's sword at the ready.
The air around Stuhac began to sizzle with electricity as lightning danced all around him.
"Blood demon art..." he began. "...Great storm!..."
"Breath of Mist, Seventh form:..."
"Thunder on the frozen-"
"Obscuring clouds..."
Stuhac watched as Muichiro's form began to disorient… Suddenly he realized what was going on! And bolted out of the way as the mist-pillar appeared behind him!
Stuhac skidded out of the attack range, and then realized he had already been cut. He brought his hand to his neck which was bleeding, it had been sliced about halfway through. "It seems I've avoided total decapitation" he mused, "too bad for you boy, you've failed this time, and you won't catch me a second t-..."
His speech slurred, his balance was lost, and he fell to the deck… "I…. can't get up?... I can't heal myself!? What's happening..."
Giyuu and Sanemi stared at the situation wide-eyed… Muichiro stood there panting, Sanemi's Nichirin blade fell from his hand, and then he too fell to the deck, no longer able to stand…
"Sane…. Mi..." he rasped weakly… seeing the state his friend was in, his own sword had been taken by the enemy yet again, only this time he hadn't been stabbed with it, worse… Sanemi had.
"I'm so sorry Sane..." he choked on his words as tears stung his eyes, "I'm so ashamed!"
He touched his forehead to the deck and began to cry, the way he had the night he defeated Upper moon 5, he was sobbing, but he could not move a muscle… until he felt a warm hand on his back… He looked back up, Sanemi had managed to crawl over to him and sit himself upright. "It's alright kid," he said smiling down at him with relief, "I'm alright, see? That bastard avoided my vitals, I was more worried about you."
Sanemi pulled the blade from his abdomen with a grunt that made Muichiro cringe.
"There," he said, "Now I can give you this back, and you can give me back mine..."
He looked down at Muichiro again, and saw those big, tear-filled minty eyes looking back up at him… Sanemi couldn't help but chuckle at how much Muichiro really did resemble a baby brother more than a friend.
"I'm real proud of you Mui... you fucking did it!" He said with a chuckle of relief, but his words were also heavy with pride, Sanemi's compliment was as sincere as a compliment could get, and Muiochiro had no Idea… how badly he needed that.
Sanemi let him rest his head in his lap and cry as he patted his back.
Giyuu had not let this warm and fuzzy moment (he hated warm and fuzzy in the first place, especially when Sanemi is involved!) distract him from Stuhac. Slowly and carefully, using his sword to support himself, he managed to get to his feet.
He saw it, the demon was doing it slowly, but surely.
Using his Nichirin for support, he hobbled over to Stuhac, his neck was healing, but it wouldn't be fast enough to save him.
"Wh… what did you do?..." Stuhac rasped as Giyuu approached to deal the finishing blow.
Giyuu dropped to his knees in front of him, he no longer had the strength to stand, but he did have the strength to swing his sword.
"They didn't do anything Leonid, you were just overconfident."
Giyuu halted, and looked up at the voice that was coming from above, Sanemi did the same and whirled around.
Stuhac's eyes widened in shock, he recognized that voice.
"M… Master Seraffiyah!"
Giyuu and Sanemi felt their hearts sink, Muichiro had already slipped out of consciousness, there, sitting on the bridge of the ship was another demon! And one sitting in the sunlight as well…
"For the benefit of the men here, I will make this address in Japanese, Leonid, you have conquered the sun 19 years ago, shortly before you killed Baba Yaga and became the third Demon King of the North, but this has been your first real fight in daylight since then, had you been more diligent, you would have known that even after we demons conquer the sun, our blood demon art's and regenerative abilities are weakened in the daylight..."
Stuhac's eyes widened, "I was not overconfident!" he cried angrily, now in a tongue which the demon slayers did not understand, "No human has been able to touch me! The fact that that brat did was because YOU helped him!"
"I took a gamble" Said Seraffiyah, "moreover, your recent activity warrants scrutiny, and now that you've been made a little more docile, I'll be taking you in."
"Hey! I didn't..." Stuhac stopped arguing and calmed down, now realizing he was in a losing situation. "Very well… I take it you've already acquired Yushiro, and the Serum?"
Seraffiyah said nothing.
"For what it's worth" Solovonov sighed, "I would have never have used the serum against his majesty. "
Seraffiyah Jumped from the bridge and landed between Stuhac and Giyuu. "Yamamoto Yushiro is safe," he told the water pillar in Japanese, "He is below deck right now..."
"Oi! Wait just a minute here!" Sanemi called to him, "Who the fuck are you!?"
Seraffiyah slowly turned his head to look at Sanemi, and suddenly the wind pillar felt his blood turn to ice…
Seraffiyah turned away from him as one would turn away from something of no interest to them.
"We are leaving Leonid." He said to Stuhac, the two of them were enveloped in dark clouds, which began to evaporate after a moment, and the two Demon's disappeared along with it...
"Oi… Tomioka, do you have any idea what the fuck that was about?"
"I have no clue Shinazugawa."
"What was that language they were speaking? What did they say!?"
Sanemi knew that Giyuu would not know, he was just riled up from the shock, and Giyuu, was now starting to realize just how out of breath he was, he did not even hear Sanemi, his vision started to blur, and he face-planted onto the deck, passed out from the battle.
Just then, the hatch opened, and Shu Yong emerged from below deck.
"I've done all I can below," he said addressing Sanemi, the ruckus has stopped, but almost everyone is unconscious, a lot of people are injured, and nobody has any idea what happened, an SOS has been sent, and a nearby Russian ship has responded, they will be coming with medical aid, and the Soviet navy has been alerted, we can expect to be tugged to Vladivostok"
He noticed that Stuhac was gone, and Sanemi was the only one still conscious.
"It looks like it was a fierce battle, did Stuhac get away, or were you victorious?"
"It was…" Sanemi began swaying back and forth, "both actually..." he finished, before finally falling backward, and slipping into unconsciousness.
In a cave of the Lullubi mountains, where no man dares to go, where according to legend, the snakes do not dare to slither, the scorpions do not dare to crawl, and the trees do not dare to grow, entered the Demon Serrafiyah, along with the man formerly known as Leonid Petrovich Solovonov, now a Demon known as Stuhac, the two of them waited for a moment, before the apparition showing the outlines of two more demons appeared, one was short and stocky with a round balled head, He was the second Demon King in the South, the other was a slim man of average height and short hair, he was second Demon King in the west, and had usurped the previous king in the west around the same time as Stuhac had usurped Baba Yaga.
"The Demon Kings normally meet two or three times in a Millenium," The King in the South remarked, "and now Three times in less than two decades, and I see you are here physically Leonid, what did you do this time?" Stuhac chuckled, "Your so mean Tadesse… weellll I may have found out about a serum that can turn demon's back into humans"
"What!?" cried the King in the west.
Tadesse threw his head back and laughed. "Seriously!? That's so cool!"
"That is not why you have been summoned"
All four Demon's in the room turned to face the direction of the voice, and knelt. His Majesty, the Demon King of Kings, the Emperor stood before them.
He was the oldest among them, yet he had the appearance of a child, wrapped in a white robe from the waist down, he was bare from the waist up, but he maintained a haughty expression on his face, his hair was pitch-black, and his eyes glowed like Amethyst. He was also one who skipped small talk and cut straight to the chase.
"It was been more than 600 years since Miyagarochi" He said referring to Tadessi, replaced the fallen King in the South, and exactly 19 years since Stuhac became the King in the North, 16 years since Shadow took his place as the King in the west… are the rest of you seeing the trends?"
Miyagarochi answered first, "It looks to me as though we are becoming less vigilant with our upper and lower moons, seeing as I am the only one who currently has 12 moons under him, I must be next, if your majesty advises or orders it, I will dismantle mine as soon as I am dismissed."
"You would have done well not to answer Miyagarochi" the Emperor responded, "That is not what I was referring to at all, the rest of you who are observant might have noted the absence of the King in the East, I am also sure that you will have already heard of it by now, Muzan who was one of my stronger Demon Kings, is dead, and all but one of his moons are dead, Seraffiyah, and Stuhac have already made it their business to go to Japan and confirm this."
"So which of his moons did him in?" asked Shadow, "Kokushibo?"
"I hope it was Akazah" chimed Miyagarochi, "I liked that guy"
"It wasn't one of his upper moons or even any of his lower moons," said the Emperor, "It was an organized effort by the Japanese Demon Slayer Corps, Muzan and all of his followers were defeated" He paused for a moment to let the other demons take that information in.
"However, I was able to intervene and save one of his upper moons, once he has made his full recovery, It is my intention to install him as the King in the East. Now, as for you Stuhac, I will deal with you later…"
"Please wait a moment." implored Shadow, "This New Demon King, may we know who he is? When will we meet him?"
The Emperor looked to Seraffiyah, who nodded understandingly.
"This Demon's name is Doma, he is originally from Manchuria, and a relative to the house of Qing, however, he along with his parents were exiled from the Forbidden City, because they had tried to prop him up as a new deity, one that would replace the Qing emperor, they founded their own cult with him as the figurehead, but the details of this story are those you should ask him yourself once he has made his full recovery. What you need to know was that he was in the service of Kibutsuji Muzan, and while he was only upper moon 2, he rose faster than any other Demon."
"Doma?" asked Miyagarochi, "I don't remember him from Muzan's upper moons"
"As I said," explained Seraffiyah, he was not an upper moon for very long, he is even younger than you are Shadow.
"Sounds like he has a lot of potential" Said Miyagarochi, "Tell us Seraffiyah, what's this guy like?"
"He is a sanguine man, but…"
"But?... Asked Stuhac"
Seraffiyah looked at the Emperor.
"Speak freely" he instructed him.
Seraffiyah nodded and continued. "When his Majesty revived Doma, he extracted a highly toxic poison from his body, interestingly enough, That Poison was the body of a girl he had absorbed."
Now every Demon in the room was curious.
"Apparently, Doma had consumed a Mortally wounded Demon Slayer he was fighting, but she had deliberately poisoned her own body, perhaps knowing that this fate would befall her, Doma was severely weakened by it, the fact that he was nearly killed by this is not what concerns me though…
Because Doma had consumed her whole, absorbed her into himself. When his Majesty extracted the poisonous body, the girl was alive, badly hurt, but alive, preserved within Doma's cells."
"And?..."
"And when Doma saw this, he became elated, and implored his Majesty to spare her, I did not object, and neither did his majesty, the girl was allowed to heal on these mountains, and then fled as soon as she was able to get herself out of bed, these mountains are treacherous, but she is most likely still alive, When I asked Doma why he wanted us to spare her, his words were..."
"Because, My world would be a lot more fun with her in it" Doma had said smiling innocently at Seraffiyah and the Emperor…
"What Serrafiyah is saying here" explained the Emperor, "Is that he mistrusts Doma because he acted so whimsically, That girl will never be a threat to us, but even though it was by my Judgement that Doma will be accepted, Seraffiyah's concern is well reasoned, and out of concern for me, he is a loyal attendant, but rest assured Seraffiyah, Doma will acclimate as he always has.
The last thing I will say to you all is this: I have always instructed you to rule your realms as though I did not exist, as though you were each the Demon King, that is something that each and every one of you has done right, including Muzan, but Muzan served me out of fear, everything he did was guided by fear of death, and the will to evade divine Punishment, This is why he ended up being killed by the sun, something which all of you barring one have now all managed to conquer, Miyagarochi..."
Tadesse acknowledged that he was being addressed, and showed the Emperor that he had his full attention.
"...When this meeting is concluded, dismantle your twelve moons, eat the upper ones. Every demon here barring Seraffiyah attained this ability by eating their previous masters, If you can attain this ability by going down the latter instead of up, then we will have learned that it can be done, and you will have saved yourself from a potential usurper… a little Ironic isn't it? Muzan was the one who feared it the most, and yet he was the only one of my Demon Kings since your time who was not killed by one of his underlings."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"And on the opposite extreme," he continued, "We have Stuhac, who was so reckless, that he was beaten by a child the moment he stepped out of his own territory,"
At this point, the Emperor's tone was mocking rather than serious, almost good-natured, and Stuhac was brave enough to laugh at a joke told at his own expense.
"Your Majesty" Stuhac protested half-jokingly, "It was Seraffiyah who helped them beat me."
"I figured it would be better to let them beat you for me"
"You could have just told me!"
"Yeah" interjected Miyagarochi, "But c'mon Leon! Just Imagine it from his perspective? The Image of you getting taken down by a little kid is just too funny! How old was he? Six? Five?"
"For your information Tadesse, he was a teenager, not a child!"
"He was fourteen," said Seraffiyah, "and he looked no older than twelve"
Miyagarochi was full-on laughing at this point, Stuhac just sighed and took it with good humor… these Jokes meant that he was probably going to get off easy.
"If this is all" said Shadow standing up, "then may we be excused, your Majesty?"
"In a moment Shadow, I will want you all to hear what I say next to your colleague..." the room fell silent for the Emperor's words. "The sting to your pride of being beaten the way you were should be punishment enough for you, and from now on, since the East has a new Legitimate king, you will stay within your own territory,"
Solovonov couldn't believe his luck, the Emperor wasn't even going to ask why he had wanted the serum, he didn't even seem to care, "However," continued the Emperor, "Regarding the serum that turns Demons into humans Leonid Petrovich, if you ever keep any information like that from me again, you will be punished… severely, And that Is what I wanted the rest of you to hear, let it serve as a warning for all of you. Now you are dismissed, except for you Seraffiyah, I want to have a word with you."
The apparitions of Shadow and Miyagarochi bowed, and vanished, Stuhac who was physically present, after bowing had to backtrack until he was out of the Emperor's line of sight before he could turn around, once he had left, and the Wandering King and Emperor were alone, the ladder addressed his subordinate fore informally, using the name that he had held in his human years.
"So, Benaiyah, This Yamamoto Yushiro Character, who holds the secret to the Serum, you have assured me that he will come to us?"
"It is most likely that he will, Lord Lugalbanda, and what will we do if he doesn't?"
The Emperor smiled, "No, I agree with you, they will come."
A woman sat staring out of the window of a train, watching the vast Siberian landscape as it passed by, it's contrast to Japan only reminded her of home, deep down she wasn't sure if she was ready yet, moreover, her shattered pride and chagrin we're causing part of her to doubt whether she was even worthy, she had not only failed miserably in what she set out to do but ended up having her wretched life saved by her enemy who had taken so much from her.
No outsider who tried to observe her from the outside would have come close to guessing the vexing state of mind she was in.
Her tilt hat and the western dress did not hide her exotic appearance, and it did nothing to hide her beauty, her delicate and petite oriental features and seemingly innocent wisteria eyes did not express the Shame and Anger that stirred within her.
"Are you okay there Kocho-San?"
The man sitting across from her snapped her out of her trance, she turned and smiled at him, she hadn't said a word for most of the journey.
"You needn't worry about me, Rubashkin-San, You know I would never hide anything from you or Kasparov-San after all you two have done for me."
"I never thought you were hiding anything," replied Rubashkin, "I just understand that this might be very overwhelming for you, especially now that we've learned of Stuhac's continued activity."
"It's true that I am not fully healed yet, not that my full strength was much to brag about either," she said being overly modest as usual, "but I know I'll be alright with you and Kasparov-San here with me."
"If Kasparov heard you say that it would make him blush," Rubashkin said smiling.
"We'd all see you blush too if you weren't so dark you Heeb! " Kasparov jabbed as he reentered their cabin.
Rubashkin just chuckled griffly as his partner sat down next to him across from Shinobu.
Lev Mikhailovich Rubashkin was indeed a darker man, a "mutt" as Kasparov (and himself half-jokingly) had put it. Before he was born, Japan had taken in two small Jewish communities. One from Iraq and the other from Russia, and Rubashkin was born to a mother from the former and a father from the ladder.
Igor Alexandrovich Kasparov on the other hand was ash-blonde (which would have been more noticeable if he let his hair grow longer than a centimeter or two) and almost as pale as Shinobu was.
As the train chugged along, he thumbed his fingers on the table between them, looking at Shinobu, unsure of how to begin… If it were anyone but her he would not have cared. Shinobu picked up on this temporizing of his.
"Kasparov-San, have you received an update?"
"Yes," he began, retrieving a note from his pocket and handing it to Shinobu. "Kasparov-San, you know I won't be able to read the Russian this note is written in, I much prefer to hear it in your words."
"I know, I didn't want the note in my head as I said the name of the departed, I know you've already been through a lot."
"It's okay Igor," She said putting her hand on his, "I truly appreciate your concern for me, but you mustn't treat me as if I am a child, I can handle it."
"An update in the conditions of the Japanese demon slayers who were brought to Vladivostok, one of them is now awake, and fully Lucid, he has Identified himself as Shinazugawa Sanemi, his condition has also improved very rapidly, the others Identified by Mr. Shinazugawa are Agatsuma Zenitsu, and Tomioka Giyuu who both collapsed from exhaustion, and have severe electrical burns, and Tokito Muichiro, who in addition to those same conditions, was severely dehydrated upon rescue, but all three of them are in stable condition, the last remaining two were Hashibira Inosuke, who died of a fatal stab wound, and Yamamoto Yushiro who arrived in Vladivostok unharmed, it is now apparent that Mr. Yamamoto and Mr. Agatsuma left for Japan with Hashibira's body before Shinazugawa had awakened."
Shinobu looked down, it was only another blow at this point…
"All of them are currently being transferred to a hospital-owned by the Our Branch of the Demon Slayer's Corps" Kasparov continued, "there is one more thing as well… There was a Chinese interpreter who was with them, and another Demon Slayer, who was affiliated with us, Zaya Ganbold, I knew her personally, she was wounded in the leg, and lost consciousness due to blood loss, but is now awake, She… also has a personal Grudge against Stuhac, and she will be a valuable asset in our next mission."
"I see" Shinobu replied, "Thank you, Igor, and might I say, your Japanese has improved tremendously."
"You don't have to shift your focus Shinobu" he reassured her, "If you need a minute-"
"I'm fine," she said cutting him off, "I'm actually quite relieved to hear those names, I am of course sad to hear of Inosuke-Kun, but the others…" she trailed off... "I'm relieved..."...
"Maybe I do need a minute," she said sheepishly, "if you will excuse me."
She got up and took her leave.
Kasparov crossed himself after she left.
"This is so uncharacteristic for you" Rubashkin scoffed.
"She's in pain." Kasparov shot back.
"You've dealt with a lot of people in pain before Igor, don't get too attached to this one okay, I say this as your friend."
All the while he spoke, Shinobu stood outside, leaning against the railing at the end of the caboose, watching the tracks as they passed, letting the wind brush past her, letting her tears begin to fall.
..."I don't blame you for getting drawn to that woman Igor, she is very beautiful, and no doubt strong, but she is damaged… very damaged"...
Shinobu fell to her knees, one hand on the rail, the other covering her eyes, her body quivered, the sounds of her sobs lost in the wind..
"How can I face them… after my failure, how can I return to them alive… how can I do it!?... how can I show myself to them!?... "
"...That demon... I failed so miserably to avenge you, sister! Doma is still alive..."
Author's final note:
Hey folks, Eyeball here, I've decided to resume this AU exclusively on the website AO3. Please feel free to check it out using this link here: /series/2404768