Hello everyone! I have returned!
Here's my new fic. This is part 11 in the series but you don't need to read the first 10 to get this one if you're willing to just take my word for a few things.
Kouyuu Solt is Kouske Fujishima and Eric(a) Solt's adopted son.
The genderbent characters are: Reisi Munakata, Yujiro Benzai, Tatsuya Enomoto, Akira Hidaka, Misaki Yata, Saburota Bandou, Masaomi Dewa, Eric Solt, Hisui Nagare, Tenkei Iwafune and Yashiro Isana.
That's basically it.
Enjoy!
Chapter 1: New Beginnings
It was insane how much could change in the space of two weeks.
Reisi Munakata would know.
Let's recap, shall we?
The beloved heart of HOMRA, who'd survived more assassination attempts than the rest of her clan put together? Dead at the hands of a faceless assailant.
The powerful and tight-knit Red Clan? Kingless and shattered.
The Silver King, an immortal who'd reigned over the sky for a near century? Believed dead.
The Colourless King who'd thought to absorb the powers of all six other Kings? Blown to smithereens without a single thing to show for it.
And the invincible Red King?
Idly, Munakata flexed her fingers against the sensory memory of his blood scalding over her hands.
The one thing no one ever seemed to warn you about was how hot blood was.
Then again, it wasn't like she'd been surprised how hot Suoh's blood was.
It had been two years.
Two weeks and life could go to absolute shit, two years and absolutely nothing could change.
Okay, a lot had actually changed in the last two years. It just felt like an endless monotone, day after day, after day, after day, after…
In actuality, she'd done quite a lot, they all had. Little Miss Kushina had been kidnapped and then become the Red King. Then after that, they'd fought with the Green Clan, both the Green and Grey Kings had perished in the battle and they'd all lost most, if not all, of their powers. And Munakata's poor lieutenant had almost been forced to kill her in order to prevent her Sword of Damocles from crashing down on them the same way Munakata herself had been forced to do to the Red King a year previously.
Gods, Munakata had been so angry at Suoh for forcing her hand that way, only to turn around and refuse to consider any other option herself.
Kind of lost her the moral high ground, didn't it?
And, perhaps the biggest changes, the world now knew about the supernatural world.
And not everyone who'd gained power when jungle had released the Slate had lost that power upon the Slate's destruction.
It had shaped up to be one Hell of a headache.
She'd actually only been back a few months, having left shortly after their fight with the Green Clan to travel the world. She'd needed to see this new world where the supernatural was common knowledge in order to form a plan on how to protect it.
It had been…
Well it was far from the hardest thing she'd ever done but it sure wasn't easy.
It was like being Captain of Scepter 4 was an old coat she'd put back on after a lifetime of being away, not just one year. It had been comfortable and fit her well once, but now it was stiff and heavy and far, far too small.
You'd think after losing her Sword of Damocles and near divine level of power, trying to lead Scepter 4 without those things would feel like too big a job, but it didn't. It felt too small.
Reisi felt trapped.
Which was why she was out walking in the middle of the day instead of her office where she should be. Again.
Mr. Fushimi was going to skin her alive when she got back.
…Or so Munakata thought. But it turned out they'd both have much bigger things to worry about before she made it back to Scepter 4.
Something, some kind of force, hit her so hard Munakata fell to her knees on the hard concrete. Her blood felt like it was fizzing in her veins. She recognized this feeling; it was the same as when she had linked with the Dreseden Slate and become the Blue King.
That was all she recognized. After that, everything seemed to go… not wrong. Just… odd.
She got to her feet quickly, Kings couldn't be seen just randomly collapsing on the pavement, but the strange feeling didn't leave her. It got worse instead; it was getting hard to breathe. Reisi felt like fire was licking over her skin.
Wait a minute, there was fire on her skin. It was all over her entire body and getting stronger by the second.
But… the colour…
A shadow fell over her, distracting her from the fire that was the wrong colour.
Munakata looked up, already knowing what she would see.
…Well, she was half right, there was a Sword of Damocles hanging above her head.
But it wasn't her Sword of Damocles!
Her Sword had been a cracked and chipped monstrosity by the end, only a second away from falling on all their heads. This sword, however, was pristine.
And both it and the fire on her skin were a beautiful yellow-gold.
"Well. Can't honestly say I was expecting that."
Munakata froze at the words.
She hadn't said them. She'd thought them, certainly, but she hadn't been the one who said them. Someone behind her had said them.
And she knew that voice, she'd never forget that voice.
Munakata shut her eyes and sighed quietly.
That voice, that voice.
Ah, so she was dreaming, was that it? Strange, she was usually one of those people who could always tell when they were dreaming but this had caught her completely off guard. Add to that, while Reisi was aware she had her strengths, her creative imagination was not one of them, to put it politely. This was definitely one of the more creative dreams she'd ever had.
That, or she was having a mental break from reality but Munakata doubted it.
The voice behind her chuckled, "you aren't dreaming and you aren't crazy."
Then how did he know what she was thinking? Riddle me this Batman!
Munakata dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands, still refusing to turn around and look at him.
"Turn around," the voice behind her ordered.
Well now she definitely wasn't going to do it! Who the fuck was he to order her around?!
Who died and made him King?!
Well… actually…
Another chuckle, as though he could hear those nonsensical thoughts too.
Munakata took another deep breath, steadying herself. Well, she'd said she wasn't going to do it, but there really was no point in delaying.
She turned around.
The sight of him hit her like a blow to the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of her and causing her knees to buckle.
"Suoh," his name fell unbidden from her lips, saying it made this feel real, him feel real.
Mikoto Suoh, standing nonchalantly a few feet behind her, gave her a casual smile as though their meeting here was chance and not an impossibility, "hey Munakata, it's been a while."
Inside bar HOMRA Izumo Kusanagi and Misaki Yata both cried out. Yata's hand flew to her chest while Izumo reached around his body to press his fingertips to his shoulder blade where their HOMRA tattoos were suddenly burning. But the worst was Anna.
"Izumo!" Racing downstairs, the teen threw herself into her parent's arms as blood red fire swirled around her, "Izumo! I hurt Kouyuu!"
The members of Scepter 4 milled by the corner of the large square table in the meeting room, most had been out of headquarters but they'd reconvened when they'd all suddenly felt their powers surge.
"Has anyone been in contact with HOMRA?" Himori Akiyama asked, he side-eyed Awashima when he spoke but it was Fuse who replied.
"I got a call from them, they all felt their strength return, including Anna Kushina."
Himori all but flinched, their powers returning was one thing but the Swords of Damocles returning was a whole different ballgame altogether. "The Kings have got their powers back too?" Unlike their clansmen, the Kings had been all but fully depowered.
"The red, gold and silver Swords of Damocles have all been spotted over Shizume in the last hour," interjected Tatsuya Enomoto, who was standing behind Fushimi's chair, looking over his shoulder at his laptop. Her hand was braced on the back of his chair and her ponytail brushed him when one of them moved. It said a lot about the seriousness of their situation that Fushimi barely noticed she was there and didn't even consider brushing her off and that Enomoto didn't think twice about invading his personal space as she squinted at the screen while his fingers flew over the keyboard. "No sign of any others though, including the Blue Sword of Damocles."
Everyone silently released a relieved breath at this. No one wanted a reappearance of Munakata's Sword in the state it had been in.
"But the Gold Sword's been sighted?" Seri Awashima asked, focusing on the biggest piece of news. "Where?"
Enomoto gave her the location the Sword had been spotted in, "but the Captain appears to be on the scene already." She knew this because Fushimi had absolutely no issue in tracing Munakata's phone and her location was in the same area the reports of the gigantic floating golden sword were coming from. "But she's not responding to any of our calls."
Yeah that was fair enough, thought Awashima, she was clearly busy. "And the Silver and Red Swords?"
"The Silver King just called, she's on her way here with her Clansmen now to discuss the situation," Ryuho Kamo said, "she appears to have regained the full breadth of her abilities."
Awashima mentally grimaced in sympathy, she knew immortality was not an ability Yashiro Isana had liked, to put it mildly. But she was glad the Silver King was putting that aside to focus on the issue at hand. If there was anyone who could help them figure this mess out, it was the Silver King. "And I presume the Red Sword is over bar HOMRA?"
"Yeah, the Red King was at the bar when her powers came back. Apparently Kouyuu Solt got pretty badly hurt when Anna Kushina's sanctum appeared too." Said Daiki Fuse, face grim.
"Shit, is he alright?" Akiyama asked worriedly.
"He's not a Clansman so he got burned pretty bad, he should heal alright though," Fuse assured him.
"Well that's good at least," Himori said, due to their uncertainty about HOMRA's ability to take care of a non-powered teenager, most of Scepter 4 felt protective of Kouyuu Solt.
Yujiro Benzai, who had been watching this disjointed conversation silently from her seat by Fushimi up until now, rubbed her forehead and sighed quietly. She had not had enough caffeine for this. "Alright, Akiyama; call HOMRA and see if someone's available to meet with us and the Silver King. Enomoto, Fushimi; keep scouring the internet, anything happens; let us know. Domyoji-"
"I'm going with the Lieutenant to rendezvous with the Captain." Said Andreana Domyoji, who'd been standing, unusually silently, next to Himori this whole time. Unspoken was the assumption that Awashima would be joining their Captain and Seri didn't gainsay this assumption.
"Good idea." Said Benzai. Akiyama and Benzai both had improved in leaps and bounds in their swordsmanship and leadership skills, they could now fight on the same level as their lieutenant. The athletically gifted Domyoji had improved beyond even that however, and could now physically go toe-to-toe with Kuroh Yatogami from the Silver Clan.
She'd be an asset if this new Gold King turned out to be hostile.
If only they knew.
"Everybody else, back to work. The world hasn't ended just because the Swords are back."
"Yet." Saruhiko Fushimi muttered darkly. His dim expression was shared on the faces of several of his clansmen. They'd gotten very lucky last time with Munakata's Sword. And the time before that too with Mikoto Suoh's. But now the Swords were back, how long could they keep this up? Someone's sword would fall eventually. And unlike with Mikoto, Munakata and Jin Harabi, there wouldn't always be someone there to make sure they were stopped. No one in the room had been a clansman during the Kagutsu Crater incident but they all remembered it.
And Red, Silver and Gold Clans had a King.
And the Blue Clan did not. Again. It had been ten years from Jin Harabi's death to Reisi Munakata's enthronement. While things between the Silver, Red and Blue Clans were much better than they had been for the previous Scepter 4, no one wanted to be Kingless with other Kings, including an unknown Gold King running around.
"One thing at a time," said Benzai with another sigh, pushing her chair back. "Let's go."
Everyone scattered. Despite the fact that she wasn't their boss and some of them actually outranked her, no one had a problem with Benzai giving them orders, or following those orders.
Domyoji still silent a step behind her, Awashima headed out to find her Captain. She tried calling Munakata again and the phone rang, but the other woman didn't pick up. Please answer Captain, just let me know you're okay. We can deal with everything else afterwards.
Reisi Munakata was not okay.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket again, it was probably her lieutenant or Mr. Fushimi trying to get in contact with her. She ignored it again. She was staring face-to-face with a dead man. It could wait, everything else could wait.
It took several seconds for Reisi to find her voice, several more for her to figure out what on Earth to say in this situation.
"I assume you have a good explanation for this?" Was what came out eventually.
She was still reeling from the shock of seeing him. She knew it really was him, there were Strains that could change their shape and cause illusions and the like but Munakata was always on guard for that. Kings weren't so easily fooled and with the amount of power currently swimming through her veins Munakata doubted there was a Strain alive who could fool her for more than a split second. So she knew it was him.
But knowing and accepting are two very different things.
Hands in his coat pockets, Mikoto shrugged causally, "I've got an explanation," he offered.
She was still -literally- on fucking fire and Munakata was really not feeling his casualness. She bit down on her tongue, hard. Screaming would be an acceptable reaction right now, wouldn't it? She was well within her rights to start shrieking, wasn't she? This was in no way an average situation, a little bit of shouting would be totally okay, right?
She didn't scream, just made a slight choking noise as the gold fire increased in power, reacting to her distress.
This wasn't Munakata's first rodeo however, she clamped down hard on the gold power, succeeding in supressing it completely for a minute before it surged, twice as strong as before.
Two was still a very low number of rodeos to have been to, expecting someone to have their shit totally together by number two was a little unrealistic.
The cement under Reisi's feet began to crack, her distress grew stronger as her power grew, her power increased as her distress did.
How had His Excellency managed this kind of power for as long as he had?! This was nothing like her blue sanctum and Munakata knew which one she preferred. Her hand clenched and unclenched as she fought to get her new strength under control.
The Gold King…
She was usually in total control of herself and the situation around her but this had caught her totally by surprise and now the ground was metaphorically and literally crumbling beneath her feet.
"Suoh!" Munakata waved him away as Mikoto approached her, if he got too close to her right now, she might just kill him a second time.
"It's okay, everything's gonna to be fine." Mikoto placed a hand on her arm so casually you'd think Munakata wasn't on fucking fire. Ignoring her squeak of protest, Mikoto pulled her into a gentle hug.
"That's what she said to me, you know. Tatara. When I became the Red King she said; 'It's okay, everything's gonna to be fine. Everything will be just fine. It'll all work out'." Mikoto said, still holding Munakata to him. "Always felt like that was a damn fool thing to say. What about this is okay?"
Munakata couldn't help it, she choked out a laugh, "that's the best you can do? Everything is not okay and will not be fine?"
"Yeah."
She laughed again but she did actually feel better. Reisi gripped Mikoto's black coat so tightly her knuckles turned white. Her heart ached. The first and, she'd assumed, last, time she'd held him like this he'd been bleeding out after she'd stabbed him, his Sword of Damocles inches from killing them all.
God fucking damn it!
Despite everything, he'd been her friend. Her friend. And she'd killed him. He'd forced her to kill him.
If she kicked him the length of the street right now, HOMRA would totally take her side.
…But he was here now.
Maybe both she and Mikoto owed Tatara Totsuka an apology. Maybe everything was gonna be fine.
The golden fire around her dimmed as she had that thought and Munakata's breathing slowed back to normal.
"There you go," Souh murmured.
Munakata took another deep breath and stepped back slightly to look Mikoto in the eye, "I hope you have a very good explanation for this," she said with as much frost in her tone as she could muster. Which wasn't a lot, as it turned out.
Mikoto tilted his head back to look at the giant golden (golden!) magic levitating sword above them. "You're the one who needs to have a good explanation for this."
Hope you liked it guys!
At the end of Mikoto x Totsuka's story I said this one was one of the final three K stories. I miscounted, there are four more stories left, not counting this one or Skyfall. Kuroh x Shiro, Nagare x Yukari and Yata x Fushimi will all also be getting stories. Those'll be the final three.
I cannot possibly be expected to count to four without error. That is far too high!
Anyways. Bye y'all!