[Legend of Sun Knight] fic: Bittersweet Sweetness Part 27

Sep 06, 2012 02:14

...I'm in the mood of posting fic. |D;; Summaries of 39 LSK will hopefully continue over the weekend!

Title: Bittersweet Sweetness Part 27
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 1,767
Summary: Instead of receiving a brooch that dresses him in an assassin's clothes, Sun receives a trinket that switches his consciousness around with Judgment's. Now, Judgment must find out the mystery behind the Death Knight in Sun's stead. Problem is, imitating Sun's poor swordsmanship is no easy feat, and who knew what Sun was doing with Judgment's body in the meantime? Alternate telling of the end of volume 1 of the novels.
Notes: You know the end is nearing when characters start to reminisce. And almost everything gets explained, haha. (Hoping I can finish this soon so I can get started on Dishonest Honesty!)

Previous Part

Part 27 - Judgment

After all that we had experienced, I was finally back in Pink's house, the place where I had first discovered that I had gotten pulled right into the middle of Sun's latest problem. I really didn't think that there was any way I could get more involved than becoming Sun himself. It had only been a little more than a day, but it felt like it had been much longer than that.

I recalled everything that had happened since I found myself bereft of my tea -- dueling with Roland, fighting back-to-back with Grisia protecting me with a sword, flinging holy light around like nothing, smiling a lifetime's worth of smiles, speaking with Grisia deep into the night, getting him to let me in, to let me help... I'd even schemed right along with him.

Although I could have done without the facial, I couldn't say that this hadn't been a worthwhile experience. The world was completely different through Sun’s eyes, and the appearance I wore meant that people treated me differently too. It was like stepping into a different skin to observe myself and what people thought of me, and of Sun, and to learn the world Sun experienced.

It had been both confining and liberating being someone that wasn't myself.

Right at this moment, Grisia stood in front of me, back trembling with fury, but that was my body. He moved with my feet, scowled with my face, and tasted with my senses.

Yes, even something like taste, which I'd never given much thought to, differed in this body. I watched, heart clenching, when I saw Pink smack the blueberry pie Grisia had thrown at her down to the ground.

I should have eaten it after all.

"Grisia, Grisia," admonished Pink as she licked the bits of blueberry pie off of her fingers, one finger at a time. "Is that how you should greet me?"

The pie is not important, I tried to remind myself. I stepped forward to address her. "Pink, it’s been longer than three hours. Tell us how to switch back."

She looked up at me through amused eyes. "How strange to hear you talk in such a controlled tone." She gestured at Grisia. "I’m more used to that kind of reaction. Maybe some table-flipping even. Do you know how outrageous he has been during his visits? He has even blasted my cleaning corpse to dust more than once!"

Pink folded her arms and shot a berating look at Grisia.

Grisia bristled. "I'll show you table-flipping if you don't start speaking about that damn trinket!"

Peals of laughter filled the air, a little girl’s delight at our troubles. "Oh how scary! Are you sure you want to switch back? Your current look suits you much better. That sparkly appearance of yours has never fit you. There can't be anyone out there who has as incongruous an appearance as you had. You should thank me. I've done you both a favor."

Pink grinned fiercely, all teeth. She was hitting Grisia's insecurities without holding back, but Grisia wouldn't let himself appear weak in front of her.

"Yes, we're sure," Grisia smiled right back, no doubt a habit from always having to smile, even when angry, but his current smile was anything but reassuring. I'd known that smiles look frightening on my face, but this was more than just frightening.

...Perhaps I should try smiling during interrogations after all. A smile like that might even get many of the criminals to confess.

Truthfully, despite the terrifying smiles on both of their faces, watching Grisia and Pink was like watching a pair of squabbling siblings plotting each other’s downfall. Grisia, however, veered towards appearing like an overbearing and mean adult bullying a little girl. Unfortunately, it wasn't something the public wouldn't believe of the Judgment Knight.

I shook my head, pulled out the two strawberry lollipops we had bought, and held them out to Pink.

Immediately, the evilly smiling little girl transformed into an angelic, albeit hyper, little girl with shining eyes. She hastily jumped off her chair and grabbed both lollipops.

"That’s more like it!" she exclaimed, lollipops in hand.

"Humph, happy now? We spent a lot of money on those! Now spill!" Grisia commanded, arms crossed.

You mean you spent a lot of my money...

All this time, Roland stood off to the side, looking entirely out of place in Pink's overly pink house. Stuffed cake plushie, pink table, and then suddenly, stoic Death Lord.

When he noticed my gaze, Roland shifted from his stiff stance. He looked over at me while Pink and Grisia continued to squabble like little kids.

"You really aren't Grisia," Roland stated without any doubt in his voice.

"I'm not," I replied, recalling the conversation we had exchanged yesterday when he had asked me who I was.

I could have asked him what gave me away, what made him so sure, but I already knew the answer. The explanation was simple, one that Grisia would unfortunately loathe, and perhaps our conversation with Pink just now was enough to fill in the rest of the blanks for Roland.

"I doubted," continued Roland, "and thought that maybe Grisia had changed completely from the Grisia I'd known. How much did I know Grisia anyway? It's been so long, and we hadn't spent all that much time with each other in comparison."

"It doesn't matter how long you've spent in each other's presence," I said. "You've affected him greatly."

"Have I? I thought he'd forgotten me," Roland murmured.

"You're not easy to forget," I replied. "Grisia wouldn't stop telling me what your odds were in the betting pools back then, and he also had a lot to say about how you helped him."

In fights. In scaling walls to buy blueberry desserts. In beating dogs that used to chase after him.

I felt a sudden surge of empathy. Perhaps we still had time to sit down and have a cup of tea together.

"Betting pools?" asked Roland in confusion.

Smiling, I merely shook my head. It figured that Roland hadn't paid attention to them. I hadn't either, though I did know of their existence. I had been completely focused on completing each phase of the selection, and Roland must have been the same. "Never mind that. Just know that you haven't been forgotten."

Roland smiled back at me in a tentative fashion before he continued. "At first, I considered that maybe Grisia had changed so much that I no longer found him familiar, but... a person's skill with a sword doesn't lie. There's something strange about your style, like you're not completely used to moving in that body. You strike with the instincts of a master swordsman, but your body doesn't respond as quickly or as sharply as you want it to. It's less evident today, but yesterday..."

"Ah."

Like I had thought, it was my swordsmanship, and Grisia's lack thereof, that had clued Roland in. I'd only given passing thought to imitating Grisia's poor skills with a sword, but there was really no copying that. I couldn't even if I tried, and... I really hadn't tried. All of Roland's observations were spot on.

Catching my eyes, Roland said, "The way you fight must have taken years to hone. Even if Grisia's skills have improved, they wouldn't have your finesse. You're the Judgment Knight, aren't you? You're Lesus, that boy who once saved me. I haven't forgotten your swordsmanship, though I couldn't place you until our duel just now when I was reminded of the time you had helped both Grisia and me. I'll say it once more. Grisia has found a good friend."

I smiled and held out my hand. "Perhaps introductions are in order. Hello Roland, I'm Lesus."

Very few people knew me by that name. It warmed me to be able to introduce myself this way.

Roland grasped my hand, his skin cool. "Pleased to meet you, Lesus. My name was Roland. I suppose... I am still Roland."

We shook hands.

"Great, are you two bonding over there while I'm facing off with the big bad necromancer?" demanded Grisia. He turned his head toward us in displeasure.

"How did you end up in this situation, Grisia?" asked Roland.

"Oh, so now you know who I am?"

Despite Grisia's words, he sounded mollified and also less likely to flip Pink's table than before.

Confused, Roland tilted his head slightly to regard Grisia. "Didn't I tell you before we came to Pink's house that you've found a good friend? I'm glad for you."

The look Grisia formed with my face was quite comical. Eyes wide, mouth slightly open in shock... It was perhaps an expression that could be described as "gob-smacked", and it wasn't one that could help me interrogate criminals. He kneaded his face, pulling his mouth closed and narrowing his eyes before he gave himself a smack, as if to reset his features.

"You are so, ugh, so Roland," Grisia finally managed to say. "That was your reaction to all this? Just how nonchalant could you have been about it? Come on, at least act somewhat surprised... As for this mess, it was all Pink's fault. She threw a trinket at me that was supposed to help me investigate your death, but it just got me swapped with Lesus."

Grisia stopped. "Actually, it was more your fault, come to think of it. If you hadn't said you'd come back for me..."

"Sorry," Roland apologized immediately. "I've caused you a lot of trouble."

I watched as Grisia fell silent. Roland was truly a very serious person and even took Grisia's jests in utmost severity.

Breathing out, Grisia turned towards Pink again, apparently deciding to ignore Roland's apology. "So? How do we switch back?"

Pink smirked. "You're right. It's been more than three hours, yet you're still stuck. That's because the trinket is still at work. Any guesses on where the trinket is?"

Immediately, my hand flew over my lower stomach, where I felt holy light fluctuate. The tingling sensation had been in the area of my rib cage yesterday, but it had slowly traveled downwards, the sensation fading as time passed. I had almost forgotten about it, thinking that it was just a reaction to the injury I had received from Roland yesterday.

Apparently, I was wrong about that.

Pink's eyes followed my motion, and her smirk grew wider. Grisia's eyes also followed me, but instead of smirking widely, he looked close to re-enacting his previous gob-smacked expression. He stared at me in disbelief.

"It's...in me," I stated.

"Bingo~!" Pink sang.

"...how do we get rid of it?" Grisia asked in a deadpan tone.

I had a very bad feeling about this.

"Oh, it'll just have to come out the natural way!" beamed Pink.

"I... was wrong about Roland being constipated. Lesus, you seriously haven't needed to do a number two since our switch?!"

"..."

"...you better do it gracefully," Grisia added unhelpfully.

to be continued

*coughs* I've been wanting to write that last scene, hahahaha. Poor Lesus...

Only a little more than one day has passed in this fic (we're on the 2nd day) yet this took me over a year to write. /mopes. The time frame for this fic has always been set to three days. So uh, a few more parts to go, since we still need to see the third day happen. XD

I might write a few bloopers or other POVs if anyone has any they want to see!

Next Part

fic type: longfics, the legend of sun knight, fic: bittersweet sweetness

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