Well hello everyone... It's been a year ONCE again. And here I am... AGAIN, lol. Anyway, I'll skip the speech and just get to it! Basically, this includes original content (I mean, they technically all do, but this will have more) and I hope you get a better sense of the reader character during one of the toughest moments for her. Here we go!

"You only live twice, or so it seems

One life for yourself, and one for your dreams

You drift through the years and life seems tame

Till one dream appears and love is its name

And love is a stranger who'll beckon you on

Don't think of the danger or the stranger is gone

This dream is for you, so pay the price

Make one dream come true, you only live twice"

You knew that it was only a matter of time before Neko's illusions wore off. When that moment came both Yatogami and Yashiro would more than likely run into another wall.

It didn't help that you were no longer there to protect your king due to your other business... But after spending a short time with the former colorless clansman, you could only hope that he wouldn't rush his judgement like before. This time you had to trust in him, and pray that the, "righteous," Black Dog made the right call.

Dashing down the street in the complete opposite direction of your feline friend, you instead hooked a right at the Shibuya crossing and pushed through the crowd. Normally you'd be polite, but today you weren't in the mood to say, "S'cuse me," to every single person.

'This is finally happening... I almost can't...'

No wait, that wasn't right.

You knew this was happening. You knew far too well.

The fact that your goal was getting closer and would soon be in view was proof of that. In just a few minutes, everything that you'd been trying to escape from was about to be overwritten.

Frankly, just thinking about it made the large amount of people surrounding you seem like a huge inconvenience.

You clicked your tongue (who were you anyway, Fushimi?) and quickly made a left into a nearby alley. You glanced around to make sure the coast was clear before getting into a squatting stance and launching yourself into the air. You touch down onto the top of a tall building and dash off, jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

Now you could move a hell of a lot faster without any real obstacles.

When it came down to it, this was definitely where you felt most comfortable. Even when you were a member at your previous clan, you often found yourself watching from above waiting for the next move. It was the only place, other than by your king's side, where you could let yourself relax.

Perhaps that was one of the reasons living with Adolf felt like paradise.

Just you and him, floating above the clouds in the sky. Now that was a view you couldn't forget, not in a million years.

It made sense.

Being above all the madness and away from your previous problems felt like a dream. One that you often found yourself wanting to go back to ever since this entire mess happened. Your entire being wished for that to become a reality again, but why was it that your mind told you otherwise?

'Maybe because you know its cowardly.'

Ouch.

Sometimes your brain was a little too honest. But frankly, could you trust an answer like that?

Were you just a coward after all? Had you mistakenly jumped the gun and run away with your tail between your legs too soon? Or were you just overreacting? Whatever the reason, in your gut it felt wrong.

Maybe things would've played out differently if...

Nah. Nothing would change.

If you'd stayed, you would more than likely be more miserable. So why even think about it? Especially now of all times.

"Damn, this really sucks." You whispered.

"Well, what did you expect?"

You grit your teeth. "Will you shut up already? Nobody asked you... damn bartender."

The voices of these guys came back nonstop. You were starting to get tired of it. Its bad enough you were about to do something crazy, but now you had to listen to your previous members taunting you around every corner?

Luckily (or not), you had caught sight of your goal from a few buildings away. You halted movement two rooftops from the giant structure of connected buildings and ducked down. You hastily threw your jacket on, pulled the hood down far enough to obscure any hint of your face and peered over the ledge.

Your eyes dragged from side to side, taking in every inch of the area to make sure no one did or will spot you. As per usual, this place had an air of stuffiness and arrogance... not that you hadn't seen it before. It was pretty much the norm for this domain, all things considered. Even though you hadn't really stepped foot into the building more than a handful of times, you noticed that nothing felt different or changed in any way.

Not that you were gone for long to begin with. Although a little over a year was still a decent length in its own way...

'Especially to the red clan.'

Okay, one of these days you'd have a serious talk with your thoughts...

For now though, you had to figure out a way to get into the infamous (famous?) Scepter 4. Which by the feel and looks of it, wouldn't be too difficult. Right now, you sensed a surprisingly low amount auras in the vicinity, so you weren't sure if you should be worried or not.

But it was definitely suspicious.

Where could most of them have gone? Was there something more important than dealing with the current... Red king? If so, then what could it have be-

"Oh shit... They couldn't have..."

That's what you told yourself anyway, but your gut hasn't been proved wrong before.

Was it possible that they were going after the colorless king? And by defacto, that would mean...

"That Adolf is in serious trouble."

You cursed under your breath. Even with the powerful Black Dog with him; hell, that's IF he was even willing to protect Yashiro to begin with, there's almost no possible way that the two would make it out alive. The fact that Neko had run off to god knows where didn't help the situation either. Basically, they were screwed.

The lack of the Blue king's energy meant that he must've overseen this mission personally... Which only meant they were doubly screwed.

Your body jerked towards their direction; although you were too far away to feel any of their energy.

You felt torn.

On one hand you had something important to do here... But on the other, your king and your newfound friend were in great danger. Just what exactly were you supposed to do?

This was possibly the hardest choice you had to make. Second only to the events of last year... even so, somehow this one felt even harder to make.

"Its either Adolf... or him."

Once that thought entered your mind, you didn't hesitate.

You couldn't afford to.

~oOo~

Since security was light around the main prision, you found out that sneaking around the Blue's domain was relatively easy. The lower ranked clansmen were doing their jobs, making sure to patrol and keep their eyes open for any intruders.

Although, they weren't good enough to detect you; not by a long shot.

During your time with the Red clan, you managed to make quite the name for yourself, regardless of your pacifistic ways.

If there were two things you were known for back then, it would be your ability to sense other clan member's auras' and your natural speed with stealth skills.

If you remembered correctly, there was another thing about something else that people talked about... but you couldn't think of it at the moment...

Unfortunately, just like the Black Dog; you too were uncomfortable about the title and the emotional weight that came with such a thing. So you tend to block it out whenever its mentioned.

Otherwise, you were pretty damn close to your goal. The only issue would be getting into the prison without setting off any alarms.

The door was in sight, but needed a passcode.

'Think Asaki...'

You back-tracked a bit, sliding against the walls while crouched down. With light footsteps you tip-toed over to what seemed like the meeting room. Inside was a large table and several chairs. Most of them were empty but one was occupied by a clansman you'd never seen before.

'He must be new. I don't recognize him.' You thought before moving on.

Next you found yourself looking inside a large room filled with desks and tv screens at the front end. There was one in particular that was larger than the others, and had an image of the Ashinaka school island. But underneath...

For a split moment your heart stopped beating.

Right on the screen was the still image of the Colorless king inside of Yashiro's body and a gun cocked at the screen...

At Totsuka.

No matter how many times you saw this video, you couldn't deny that it filled you with a pure unadulturated rage.

You forced yourself to tear your eyes away and tried to focus. 'What else is here? What else is here?' You repeated this several times in your head as a disctraction.

In the end it payed off.

"And would you look at that~" You whispered.

Flashing on one of the screens was none other than the precise person you were looking for; and right next to it... your ticket to getting in without notice.

No one was in sight and no auras were near enough to catch you, so all you had to do was get a closer look at the code.

Carefully, you stepped closer and dashed toward the screen, cushioning your steps along the way. You didn't want to get caught in the final stretch. The Blues' had a habit of acting over the top with intruders, especially those from the Reds'. Figures.

Once you were in front of it, you cautiously tapped the screen and quickly moved your hand away, so that it wouldn't register you as an imposter. You then snapped a photo with your cell for safe measure and ducked out of there as fast as possible.

You sprinted into the hallway and leaped onto one of the wall ledges. Luckily the damn things were so tall and out of the open. Seriously, what was with all these grandiose pillars and ridiculously high ceilings? You'd never understand the taste of most other clans... 'Then again, for about the past year and a half I was living inside of a mega ritzy blimp with a world famous scientist.'

Ugh, you just lost another battle with yourself.

To be fair, at least the Himmelreich had a classic elegance to it; an almost vintage feel that most people were into these days.

'Wait a sec,' there was a blue clan member right below you. Another one you hadn't recognized wasn't too far off and was approaching, followed by one more. The first wore glasses and the other had styled his hair into a slicked back ponytail. Both of them were new faces to you, which meant that their members must've nearly doubled in size over the year.

"Looks like you've been busy Munakata... From what I can tell, he might have one of the largest followings right after the Greens' and the Gold clan." It didn't surprise you however.

Considering his pitch for, "always serving the path of justice," most people got a kick out of stuff like that. If not for the abilities, then for the glory. Although, you wouldn't rule out the select few that were actually decent human beings. If you were to name a few, then you'd go with the higher ranked members like Akiyama or Dōmyōji. In fact, the latter almost seemed like a Red clan member if one went on personality alone. But still, he insisted on staying with the Blue clan. To each their own.

You crouched down and listened in when one of them spoke.

"Hey, how do you think they're doing over there at the stadium?" Glasses asked.

"I'm not sure, but with the king by their side doesn't it seem a little bit like overkill?" Ponytail added.

"Beats me. All I know is the bastard that murdered that one Red clansman is getting off pretty easy. If HOMRA had gotten to him first that son of bitch would already be dead."

'Damn right he would.'

Wait... No, no... But yes... No... You didn't know anymore. There was always that part of you, the darkness within that showed whenever a touchy subject came up.

Case and Point; any mention of a friend's death... Especially your best friend.

You grimaced.

"Hey calm down. I get that the guy is scum but he still called himself the Colorless king. That means the situation could be extremely dangerous."

"Yeah, but isn't the Colorless king the weakest king?"

The one with the ponytail scoffed. "Yeah, so? A king is a king. No matter how weak, he'll still kick the crap out of us regular clansmen. We need the captain there in order to prevent that. Unless we all want to end up like that HOMRA member and their king."

Note to self, ponytail guy is an ass.

"Yeah, yeah. Listen, I know that you're right, but to me it still just seems excessive. Not that it really matters. Other than that, is it really okay that all the higher ranked members left us in charge of the Red king. Like, won't he realize the real threat is gone and try to escape or something?"

You grit your teeth. 'That's not really his style.'

And you hated that you knew that... and all too well.

"I don't think that's going to be an issue. If our Captain doesn't have any doubts, then we as his sworn clansmen shouldn't either."

Glasses sighed. "Guess you're right. I should be more worried about the stadium and our paperwork."

Their conversation came to a close and you saw your chance to move. In the end, you got a bit more information about the intended attack on your king. In fact, there was only one stadium even remotely close to this area.

It might have been dumb luck, but regardless you got what you needed.

"Hang in there boys."

Eventually you made it back to the prison cells. The good news was that security was lower than expected. The bad news... there was still security.

You pondered for a moment, going through every possible strategy.

There was option A: Lure them away with a distraction of some sort. B: Try to hack into their system and call them overhead. Or C: Fight them.

"Well options B and C are out. I don't know those clansmen by name and I definitely do not want to pick a fight... So that leaves me with A. Question is, how do I go about it?"

Oh. There was one way.

Was it reckless? Yes.

Stupid? Uh-huh.

Were you still going to do it? Absolutely.

Peering from behind your corner you couldn't help but grin a little. "I'm a little rusty, so going back to basics should put me in my groove."

Switching stances, you tied the hood over your face even tighter. You wanted zero risk in being found out during this next part. You backed up a bit, making sure your shoes gripped the floor so that you wouldn't trip or fall. And then, like the hopeless moron you are... you screamed in bloody murder, "ALL OF THE BLUES ARE DICKS!"

It was less than a second when you could hear the sound of them unsheathing their swords, followed by frantic footsteps.

Quicker than anyone could blink you pushed off into the center hallway where they could see you in plain sight.

"Hey ass-hats, over here!" You yelled. And just for the hell of it, you lowered your voice again. Can't risk a single thing after all.

"Who are you?! Are you part of another clan?!" One yelled.

"State your name and business or we'll cut you down!" The other added.

You graciously gave them the finger and flew down the hallway, laughing as over the top and maniacally as possible to really drive it home.

"Just try and get me you MORONS! AHAHAHAHA!"

They started chasing you, just like you planned... and wow you never realized how inexperienced new clansmen were. A stunt like this never would've worked on Awashima or Fushimi; but hey, you weren't about to complain.

You made sure to give them a false sense of security by slowing down your pace. Out-running them would mean that they'd sooner return to their post than chase after some random misfit. The key was making them believe they had a chance in order to bring them further away. That way it would take them longer to get back to their post. A simple strategy, one that obviously works better for amateurs... and admittedly fun when someone actually falls for it.

Along the way, a few other members joined in; but most of them were much too slow. Like c'mon guys; you were barely even running... It was more like a slow jog. Munakata should've trained them more. No matter how confident he felt about current circumstances, they were clearly way out of their element... literally.

It wasn't long until you were close to the exit.

"Is this honestly all the Blue clan is good for? Sorry to say that I'm super bummed out at how lame you guys turned out to be~"

"Uh-oh... I think we broke her this time..." Kusanagi laughed.

"Mhmm..." Suoh hummed.

For a split moment, you tensed up.

Crap, this was no time to be having fun.

Shaking your head you lead them to the front doors. You glanced behind you, trying to gauge the perfect distance before making your move.

Just a little more, aaaand... now!

Twisting to the right on your heels, you pushed off the ground and launched full force into the open air. Perhaps a little too much, because now you were several feet above the building. "Oops. Got a little too excited." You laughed.

It was a few seconds before you landed on top of the main building (sometimes you underestimated your leg strength). Considering it took about fourteen minutes at a decent jogging pace to reach the front gates, it would take about twice that long for the Blues' to walk back to security. Perhaps even longer since they were tired.

You estimated an half hour to fourty minutes maximum.

"Damn! Where the *huff* hell did he go?"

"I-I'm not... *gaaah* sure, b-but we should head back. We'll tell the Liuetenant when she returns. *Whew*, that guy was a slippery one. I can barely breathe right now."

That was the last thing you needed to hear as you made your way to the prison. At full speed, it only took a minute or two; traveling across rooftop saved additional time.

But now came the hardest part...

You jumped down and retraced your steps towards the main cells' entrance.

The layout while complicated and flashy, also made it easier to find the main doors; your ultimate goal. Soon the prison area was back in sight; only this time unguarded.

You could faintly feel the auras of other clansmen, but that was a good sign. The further away, the better.

Carefully, you walked towards the large entryway and typed in the complicated set of numbers from your phone. The panel was small and elaborate, but the code went through without issues. From there, the sides slid open revealing a somewhat eerie hallway filled to brim with cells.

It was larger than what you expected, but that didn't change the fact that only one person was currently confined here.

'They must've separated him from the other prisoners for their safety.' You thought.

The intense aura was about halfway down... A good spot to put him so that everyone would have a chance to evacuate if things got crazy.

"Let's go." You mumbled to no one in particular.

Right now if you didn't try to reassure yourself, you had a distinct feeling that you would flee at any moment. It was a way to calm yourself down; a defense mechanism.

Step by step.

Closer.

Closer still.

By the time you approached the cell, your hands were shaking. Your breathing felt unsteady. Crap, your heart was racing too. Damn it all.

You stopped right before the window and peered inside from the corner, unsure as to whether or not he was awake.

When you caught a glimpse of a familiar broad back facing towards you and the slow rise and fall of his shoulders; you felt the whole world stop completely.

Dear god.

You had to fight back the tears that threatened to spill. A hot burning sensation welled up within your chest and swelled with every breath he took.

This feeling...

That's it.

You had missed him.

So much that you found your body reacted on its own. In an instant those bars opened, and you took one of the biggest leaps of faith in your entire life...

And stepped inside.

... I've got nothing to really say, haha.

I loved this chapter, and it was originally going to include more, but I decided to end it there.

So uh... Good to be back haha.

Until next year everyone XD