A/N: The end is near! It might seem abrupt but I'm planning on posting side stories that occur between chapters. This time, the song is embedded in the plot! Please read the lyrics as I feel like some parts describe what Hana is thinking/feeling. Song is "Runnin" by Adam Lambert.
December 5, 2012
Wednesday Night
9 PM
"See you in a bit!!" A happy goodbye was heard as a group of people parted ways.
"Okay you two lovebirds, don't forget you have a curfew." Izumo teased as he, Mikoto, and Anna headed back to HOMRA. His tone was lighthearted, but he also knew that they've been running into trouble lately.
Hana would be able to brute force her way through trouble and Tatara could probably talk his way out, but Izumo didn't want to take chances with those two. Hana was also being cryptic and vague, reminding them to always be on guard and alert.
Recently, he had felt a crawling sensation on the back of his neck, as if a spider had been walking along his skin. It made him shiver. It was the same feeling he got when someone was watching him.
There was no set time or place that it occurred, it often happened at random. He had to force himself to not shiver from the creepy sensation.
Sometimes it would be in the middle of a crowded area or when he was walking home alone from the bar. He never let his guard down, but in the end the feeling would vanish as soon as it had appeared.
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Hana's POV
I stuck my tongue out childishly at Izumo, Mikoto, and Anna's retreating backs.
It was a beautiful Wednesday night, the night sky was clear and unobstructed by clouds or pollution. It was a perfect evening to try out Tatara's old-style movie camera.
There was still time left until the Colorless King made his move.
According to canon, the 7th King attacked and killed Tatara a little past midnight, on Anna's birthday. Anna's birthday is on December 8th so there's 3 more days until the attack.
Even with "mother hen" mode activated, I knew that nothing ever goes according to plan. Especially since I was here changing the plot line. But in all honesty, any of my boys can be injured at any time or on any day. I could get hit by a car and die - ahhh wait. I really shouldn't say that since I really did get hit with a car and die.
My eyes glazed over as Tatara and I walked side by side, holding hands. We weren't on a busy street, but there was so much life occurring around us. I was mesmerized by the city lights while I allowed my thoughts to wander.
I'm not going to limit Tatara's freedom just because I'm terrified he's going to die. By no means am I not terrified, I love that idiot, but he's my idiot. And we're in this together.
I was abruptly pulled out of my thoughts when I was knocked on the forehead.
I comically blinked in shock and stopped walking. Instead of by my side, Tatara had turned and faced me with a stupid grin on his face.
"Stop that worrying, I know that face Hana. Everything is going to turn out alright."
I glared at him, the idiot with his hand still poised in the knocking position.
"I'm not a door y'know." I retorted as I brought my fingers up to rub my forehead. The action was more out of habit than actual pain.
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[Steel to my trembling lips,
How did the night ever get like this?]
10:30PM
"No! You can't!" Tatara firmly ordered as he held my right hand in worry.
I attempted to wrench my hand away from Tatara, but he held on tight. My left shoulder was throbbing, but despite the pain I knew what I had to do.
I had been shot by the Colorless King. He had already been on the rooftop when Tatara and I entered. A sense of dread had filled me, and I had stepped in front of Tatara to take the bullet meant for him. This resulted in me getting a bullet wound to the shoulder and the shooter escaping.
Yes yes, I know I could have activated my aura ahead of time, but the gun had already gone off as soon as we stepped onto the roof. I've learned my lesson, I know I should always have my aura shield activated despite it draining my energy.
"I have to!" I insisted that I needed to follow the perpetrator and apprehend him. But in reality, I had something different planned. He came to us, now it's my turn to go after him.
"You're injured, I won't let you go!"
That stubborn idiot. In a flash, I leaned into him and kissed him.
Our mouths touched for the first time. His lips were soft and warm and mine were intense and insistent. His eyes widened and he went slack for a moment.
And that's all it took. In his shock, his grip on my hand loosened and I wrenched it away.
Without looking back, I jumped after the Colorless King, chasing after his thread.
"HANA!!!" Tatara's voice sounded heartbroken.
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[My heart's beating faster, I know what I'm after.
I've been standing here my whole life,
Everything I've seen twice, now it's time I realize
It's spinnin' back around now, on this road I'm crawling
Save me cause I'm falling, now I can't seem to breathe right.]
I cut through the tall buildings, enhancing my speed and strength with my aura. I was chasing after a transparent fishing line, one that was almost impossible to see.
I concentrated some of my aura into my eyes, enhancing my vision to follow the thread better. To ignore the gunshot wound, I had my aura numb my shoulder. All of my aura was directed to my speed, strength, and eyesight. I didn't have enough energy to concentrate on the delicate process of healing, despite the adrenaline rushing through my blood.
My left arm went limp and useless but it didn't matter. I wouldn't need it to do what I needed to do.
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"You. Better. Stop. Right. There. Pal." I managed to huff out. I landed on the same rooftop as the perpetrator, who had turned around to confront me.
"Oho? You have managed to keep up, I'm not surprised." The white-haired boy laughed with an evil gleam in his eye. He did a twirl on the rooftop with the gun held loosely in his hand, "You see, I've been watching you lately. You've put a wrench in my plans."
"Why thank you."
He gave a sharp laugh, "It just meant that I need to kill you or have you to myself."
I smirked, "Well I guess the first one didn't wo-."
BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.
My sentence was cut off as a gun was fired. But silence didn't fill the air. Instead, it was the sound of bullets dropping to the floor. They had hit an opaque pink wall that had suddenly appeared in front of me. Well not suddenly, I had it up there the entire time but the aura was activated when the bullets touched it.
"How rude, I didn't even finish my sentence."
Not perturbed, the Colorless King gave a nonchalant shrug and tossed the empty gun to the ground.
It clattered noisily, but our attention never wavered from each other's gaze. We held no interest in something so meaningless. A weapon that could certainly do harm but not end the other.
"So what do you want? I'm sure you didn't just follow me and leave your foolish boyfriend all alone just to have a bit of a chat now did you?"
"Actually, yes. I'm here to give you a chance. Let me help you return to your original body."
"AhAHahahAHAHahhA!! You think I'm satisfied with something as powerless as being the 7th King?!? No no no, you don't understand. I am the chosen one! I was the one chosen for these powers. To rule the world! People write me off as weak and insignificant just because I'm not as powerful as the other kings, the weakest king they say!" A crazed gleam took over his eyes. "But I'll show them, I have the whole world under my fingertips, every person should obey ME. I'll consume consume consume consume everything and everyone until no one can stop me. NO ONE."
As I listened to his words, a bud of sadness welled up within my chest. I don't know what happened, but I couldn't get to him in time. I couldn't stop his descent into madness. I don't know his backstory, I don't know what happened to him to turn him this way, but there was only one thing left I could do.
"But now, I know who YOU are. I've spied on you from afar. You're special. You're the King's Flower, you're the weak link. Special enough to hold your own against a king but not enough to do any real damage."
'Haaa so I guess he doesn't actually know. I've thought about this for so long... I'm ready and prepared to bear the consequences. I'm ready to say goodbye, even if those I want to say it to the most are not here to hear it.'
"I've already done my part, I'm prepared to go." I announced to the 7th King.
"Huahuahua GO?!? GO WHERE? Back to your boring little hideout in that tiny bar of yours? Run back to the arms of the Silver King? Red King? That weakling of a boy toy of yours? No, I need you. I shall take over your body and devour your powers. I need your body and the information in that head of yours to find the Silver King. He's no longer in his airship because of YOUR MEDDLING." The 7th King lunged at the pink haired girl, pushing her down to the ground and grabbing her by the throat.
Scarily calm, her eyes level with the amber-colored eyes of the Colorless King's vessel. Inside the vessel's eyes, she watched the white fox form of the king's soul agitatedly move around.
'How unstable.' She mused.
No matter how much effort he put into trying to overtake her body, he kept getting repelled and returning to the schoolboy's body he was using.
Despite his grip gradually tightening in frustration, Hana spoke calmly, "You've misunderstood. My power is to heal. And even medicine can be a poison if misused. Everyone has always thought that only a King can kill another King, but they're wrong. If one has enough resolve, and enough power in their sanctum to match a King... they can either heal or kill a King."
[A life that's always been a dream,
Wake up now and live oh!
I've been standing here my whole life,
My heart's beating faster, I know what I'm after.]
I have never told anyone that every king has a weakness. As the King's Flower, I am the only one who knew about the loophole in the grand scheme of this world, the only one who could do what needs to be done. In exchange for using up the rest of my sanctum, my life force, I could kill a King.
I gently placed my hand on the king's cheek, as if carressing it.
A large pulse of aura emits from my body as I summon up my sanctum. A large Sword of Damocles hovers above us, a sword that has never been seen before.
It has a slim blade with a strange cross guard. The cross guard has 7 stones of various colors embedded within it in a circular pattern: silver, gold, red, blue, green, grey, and colorless. The base of the handle is fuschia-colored, which fades into an ombre of multiple shades of pink that extends to the tip of the blade.
"WAIT. NO, NO, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!? OPEN YOUR EYES, OPEN THEM!" The Colorless King frantically shook me. He even tried to let go and push himself away, but found he couldn't. A pink aura had engulfed us both.
'I was... happy. Tatara, I wonder... will he be angry? But I have no regrets... I am and have always been Hana Kugawa. I lived true to myself and will accept the consequences of my actions, now and forever.... Well, maybe one tiny regret. Wish I could burn up a sun just to say goodbye. Tatara Totsuka, I lo-.' My consciousness drifted away as the last of my sanctum was used to destroy the Colorless King and return all of the souls he possessed to their comatose bodies (if they still had bodies to return to).
Everything went dark.
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Unknown POV
It smells good, like flowers.
It's cold. But I'm lying on something warm.
Everything hurts. I groan weakly as I open my eyes and find enough strength to push myself off the ground. I can feel long hair underneath my palms and I abruptly search for its source.
It's dark outside but as I squint down, I gasp.
There's a girl! Wait, why was I lying on top of her? Did I... did I hurt her? She has finger marks around her throat and I'm the only one here.
"B-b-blood! Her shoulder is bloody?!? Help... someone help!!!" I frantically get up and press my hands against her injured shoulder to stop the flow of blood. "Hello, hello, miss? Can you hear me?"
She's unresponsive as her body gets colder and colder.
Fumbling around, I frantically search my pockets (this isn't my school uniform, why am I wearing this?) for my PDA. Finding it tucked into my inner jacket pocket, I ignore the blood that gets smeared on the screen as I dial for the police.
"110, what's your emergency?"
"There's a lady bleeding to death on a rooftop! She was shot, I see a gun at the edge of the roof."
"May we use your PDA's location to track you?"
"Yes, yes go ahead." The white-haired boy responded.
"Okay keep calm, we have units on their way. Can you tell me your name?"
"I... my name... my name... what's my name?"
A/N: Did I surprise you? I surprised myself! I already had a different plot set in my head, but somehow this is my (almost) conclusion. Maybe I'll go back and edit it later, add a few more details. However, I'm really happy with what I have here.
There is 1 more chapter left! Plus an epilogue I believe. I dunno, this story just seems to be writing itself. I'm currently watching K: Seven Stories for the first time so I'm also getting more inspiration there.
I don't wanna beg for reviews, but they always make me happy. So if you want to make a complete stranger, who has complete control over this story (jk my characters are rebelling against their author cuz I didn't plan a few things that happened here) to be happy, please leave something nice!