[Legend of Sun Knight] fic: Bittersweet Sweetness Part 26
Title: Bittersweet Sweetness Part 26
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 1,766
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: I've rewritten this part so many times. I give up!
Previous Part
Part 26 - Sun
Oh the look on Roland's face! Good job Lesus, you've managed to shock a death lord into exercising his facial muscles. I bet few can claim to have achieved such a feat!
Roland stared for so long that I became impatient and decided to nibble on the slice of blueberry pie that I still had. Don't judge me -- I'm sure you like to chew on things too when there's a good show in front of you.
Immediately, I wished I hadn't given into that impulse. I made a face at the blueberry pie. It still didn't taste any better than before, which made absolutely no sense! How could blueberry pie not taste good? There was something seriously wrong with Lesus' taste buds.
Meanwhile, Lesus finally slid the Divine Sun Sword back into its scabbard. I was itching to rush over and snatch the blade out of his hands so that I could inspect it. With the insane way he'd fought with the blade, I was sure that he had shaved an entire layer off of the sword. I had been able to hear the screeching as it had happened, an entire layer of my earnings gone just like that...
No, if the Divine Sun Sword breaks in the future, it would definitely not be my fault! It would be Lesus' fault, so he should pay for it!
"What do you mean?" Roland asked hesitantly. I unwillingly tore my gaze away from the Divine Sun Sword.
"What he means," I cut in to say while trying to shove thoughts of the Divine Sun Sword to the back of my mind, "is that you've done a lot of damage on the Sun Knight's reputation, so you had better help us fix that."
Roland glanced at me, confused. I'd say he looked constipated with that pinched look of his, but I don't think death lords need to use the toilet. Did he really not know that he had caused all sorts of problems for my reputation?
"You said you would come back to find Sun. Now people think the Sun Knight was the one who tortured you to death," I explained moodily. "There are also whispers about the king not trusting the Sun Knight."
My explanation didn't seem to help. Brows furrowed, Roland commented, "I don't see how attacking the king would help fix the Sun Knight's reputation."
Ah, so that's what he's hung up over. Well, let's simplify things for everyone then.
"King gets attacked by Death Lord. Sun Knight saves the day. Sun Knight's reputation rises. Misunderstandings are cleared. King is injured during the attack. Can no longer rule. Crowned prince takes up leadership. That easy enough to understand?"
Heh, looks like I've just managed to shock a death lord into exercising his facial muscles too!
Without giving Roland time to recover, I pressed on. "You promised us you would listen, so listen up and help us deal with the king. It's within your interests to help us out."
"...so you know that he's...?" Roland asked, voice thick as he glanced between Lesus and me. He made some kind of gesture at himself before his hand ended up over his chest. It looked like he was gripping his heart, remembering his pain.
We nodded in affirmation.
I know Roland. I know he is the one who murdered you. I know now that he is the one who you've come back for as well.
His next words were quiet. "...but I've never mentioned..." He paused, his tone suddenly changing, eyes hardening. "I can't let him walk free. Burn me at the stake if you must, but I cannot let him walk free."
This is your lingering obsession, isn't it? Not revenge but a need to prevent the same tragedy from happening again. I can't let you kill him, but I can do this much for you. Let me help you. I thought you to be lost, but you're not. You're still Roland. No matter what form you wear now, you're still the Roland I knew. You would rather sacrifice yourself if that means no one else would come to harm. But...don't. I've already lost you once. I don't want to lose you again. Not in this way.
Don't taint your hands and become a king slayer. That's not you.
I found it hard to speak. Thankfully Lesus, like always, had my back. He spoke for both of us. "I believe our plan to attack the king would benefit you."
He then explained our plans in detail, and when I finally found in myself the ability to speak, I also chimed in. Our plan had already been set in motion. Now, we just needed the actors. We could have done without Roland -- in fact, that had been the original plan, to have someone else pretend to be our missing Death Lord in what promised to be a spectacular play -- but who better to invite to the performance than the actual Death Lord himself?
Not once did Roland argue the semantics behind "listening" while we outlined our plans. It seemed that he had used up his quota of interesting expressions for the day because a blank look took over his face as we explained, wiping out all other expressions.
Perhaps we've shocked him so much that he doesn't know how to react anymore?
After all, if I had been in his position, I would have argued until my last breath, or well, in Roland's case, until disintegrating, that I had only promised to "listen", meaning "hear him out", not "listen to orders". He, however, didn't protest at all. I couldn't tell if he was going along with us because of the promise he had made us, or because he was simply too shocked to disagree.
I'd like to think, however, that it was because our goals aligned.
When we finished speaking, Roland finally managed to work his mouth, "This...is a ludicrous plan. Who came up with it?"
"Hey, I resent that. It's not a crazy plan. It's sound, okay? It'll solve all of our problems all at once," I said. "If you must know, the brains of..." I slid my eyes towards Lesus, "Grisia and I put together this plan."
Lesus firmly said, "I wouldn't call it a very sound plan, but it's the best we've come up with. It'll do," Lesus turned toward Roland, "as long as you are willing to lend a hand, Roland."
"I never knew both the Sun Knight and the Judgment Knight to be reckless to this degree," Roland commented. "You're actually asking me to cooperate with you. Me. A death lord."
Smiling softly, I quipped, "You've missed out on a lot, Roland. Should've kept in touch."
Ah, am I giving myself away?
After all, I hadn't been trying to emulate Lesus at all. Not since Roland had approached us.
Roland tilted his head to study me in more detail. I shifted, hands tightening before I remembered that I still had a piece of leftover blueberry pie in my grasp. What should I do with it?
Then, he said, "I remember you. Weren't you the one who helped Grisia and I defeat those bullies who had us surrounded outside the training grounds?"
A flash of recognition seem to pass through Lesus' blue eyes as he also placed Roland. Roland's eyes flicked to him before they focused back on me.
Now that Roland had mentioned it... There had been such an event in the past, hadn't there? I'd almost forgotten. It was that time when Roland and I had been surrounded by ten people or so, or should I say...I was the one who had been surrounded? Roland had come to my aid, and then he'd gotten involved too. I seemed to attract all sorts of bullies back then. Well, even now, I still attract all sorts of adversaries, but hey, I strike back hard now, even if it's still never with my fists or sword.
Ten people had truly been too tough even for Roland. I'd managed to sneak out and find Lesus to help us. When he'd heard that it was ten against two, he hadn't hesitated at all. After Lesus joined us, let's just say those bullies hadn't stood a chance.
I'd gotten beaten up so much in the past that I hadn't really kept track of whether or not my helpers had ever met. Two sword idiots like these two...if only Roland had chosen to stay with the Holy Temple, perhaps joining one of the platoons of the Twelve Holy Knights -- he could have even become one of our vice-captains -- I'm sure they would have become great friends.
And I could have prevented...
If only.
If only.
Slowly, I nodded.
"Thanks," he said, years after the fact, to the wrong person. Well, he was facing both of us, and seemed to be angled toward Lesus a bit more than me, but he had to have been thanking me. The Judgment Knight.
I guess I hadn't given myself away after all. Some part of me actually felt...crestfallen?
I'm Grisia, am I not? I wanted to say. Don't you recognize me? Will you...ever forgive me?
Suddenly, Roland smiled one of those small smiles of his that was barely a smile, eyes darting between me and Lesus. So he hasn't used up all of his expressions... Then, he told me, as if we were best of friends and were merely catching up, "You've found a good friend. I'm glad."
Well, thanks for the compliment, Roland.
The way he had said it, however, felt kind of...strange.
Roland said no more as he accompanied us to Pink's place. I kind of thought he was going to mysteriously disappear on us, but I guess there wasn't a need anymore, not when we were all on the same page now, more or less. Sorta. It frustrated me that Roland still didn't recognize me! But...whose fault was it but my own for falling out of touch with him?
Surprisingly, Pink was actually home. I had almost thought she wouldn't be, with how things in stories usually played out. I gave in to my urge to kick her door open. She seriously had it coming. My foot slammed into her cute little door. It flew open, revealing the overly pink interior.
"What have we here?" a girl’s voice sounded.
She was anything but an innocent little girl. I'd never been tricked, and I wasn't going to be tricked now.
"Pink," I growled in Judgment's deep voice.
"Hello Judgment Knight~," Pink said in a singsong. She looked up at us from where she sat resting on a pink chair with her pink shoes propped high in front of her. I could even clearly see her pink undies with the scandalous way she was sitting. "Or are you my future apprentice?"
I threw the blueberry pie at her face. "What do you think?"
to be continued
...this part just had too much talking. I dislike writing conversations. -__-; I have four different drafts of this, guuuuh.
But whoot, Bittersweet Sweetness! It continues! \o\ Still a few more parts to go. Oh, I started this last August. Darn, I was hoping to finish writing this within one year!
Next Part
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 1,766
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: I've rewritten this part so many times. I give up!
Previous Part
Part 26 - Sun
Oh the look on Roland's face! Good job Lesus, you've managed to shock a death lord into exercising his facial muscles. I bet few can claim to have achieved such a feat!
Roland stared for so long that I became impatient and decided to nibble on the slice of blueberry pie that I still had. Don't judge me -- I'm sure you like to chew on things too when there's a good show in front of you.
Immediately, I wished I hadn't given into that impulse. I made a face at the blueberry pie. It still didn't taste any better than before, which made absolutely no sense! How could blueberry pie not taste good? There was something seriously wrong with Lesus' taste buds.
Meanwhile, Lesus finally slid the Divine Sun Sword back into its scabbard. I was itching to rush over and snatch the blade out of his hands so that I could inspect it. With the insane way he'd fought with the blade, I was sure that he had shaved an entire layer off of the sword. I had been able to hear the screeching as it had happened, an entire layer of my earnings gone just like that...
No, if the Divine Sun Sword breaks in the future, it would definitely not be my fault! It would be Lesus' fault, so he should pay for it!
"What do you mean?" Roland asked hesitantly. I unwillingly tore my gaze away from the Divine Sun Sword.
"What he means," I cut in to say while trying to shove thoughts of the Divine Sun Sword to the back of my mind, "is that you've done a lot of damage on the Sun Knight's reputation, so you had better help us fix that."
Roland glanced at me, confused. I'd say he looked constipated with that pinched look of his, but I don't think death lords need to use the toilet. Did he really not know that he had caused all sorts of problems for my reputation?
"You said you would come back to find Sun. Now people think the Sun Knight was the one who tortured you to death," I explained moodily. "There are also whispers about the king not trusting the Sun Knight."
My explanation didn't seem to help. Brows furrowed, Roland commented, "I don't see how attacking the king would help fix the Sun Knight's reputation."
Ah, so that's what he's hung up over. Well, let's simplify things for everyone then.
"King gets attacked by Death Lord. Sun Knight saves the day. Sun Knight's reputation rises. Misunderstandings are cleared. King is injured during the attack. Can no longer rule. Crowned prince takes up leadership. That easy enough to understand?"
Heh, looks like I've just managed to shock a death lord into exercising his facial muscles too!
Without giving Roland time to recover, I pressed on. "You promised us you would listen, so listen up and help us deal with the king. It's within your interests to help us out."
"...so you know that he's...?" Roland asked, voice thick as he glanced between Lesus and me. He made some kind of gesture at himself before his hand ended up over his chest. It looked like he was gripping his heart, remembering his pain.
We nodded in affirmation.
I know Roland. I know he is the one who murdered you. I know now that he is the one who you've come back for as well.
His next words were quiet. "...but I've never mentioned..." He paused, his tone suddenly changing, eyes hardening. "I can't let him walk free. Burn me at the stake if you must, but I cannot let him walk free."
This is your lingering obsession, isn't it? Not revenge but a need to prevent the same tragedy from happening again. I can't let you kill him, but I can do this much for you. Let me help you. I thought you to be lost, but you're not. You're still Roland. No matter what form you wear now, you're still the Roland I knew. You would rather sacrifice yourself if that means no one else would come to harm. But...don't. I've already lost you once. I don't want to lose you again. Not in this way.
Don't taint your hands and become a king slayer. That's not you.
I found it hard to speak. Thankfully Lesus, like always, had my back. He spoke for both of us. "I believe our plan to attack the king would benefit you."
He then explained our plans in detail, and when I finally found in myself the ability to speak, I also chimed in. Our plan had already been set in motion. Now, we just needed the actors. We could have done without Roland -- in fact, that had been the original plan, to have someone else pretend to be our missing Death Lord in what promised to be a spectacular play -- but who better to invite to the performance than the actual Death Lord himself?
Not once did Roland argue the semantics behind "listening" while we outlined our plans. It seemed that he had used up his quota of interesting expressions for the day because a blank look took over his face as we explained, wiping out all other expressions.
Perhaps we've shocked him so much that he doesn't know how to react anymore?
After all, if I had been in his position, I would have argued until my last breath, or well, in Roland's case, until disintegrating, that I had only promised to "listen", meaning "hear him out", not "listen to orders". He, however, didn't protest at all. I couldn't tell if he was going along with us because of the promise he had made us, or because he was simply too shocked to disagree.
I'd like to think, however, that it was because our goals aligned.
When we finished speaking, Roland finally managed to work his mouth, "This...is a ludicrous plan. Who came up with it?"
"Hey, I resent that. It's not a crazy plan. It's sound, okay? It'll solve all of our problems all at once," I said. "If you must know, the brains of..." I slid my eyes towards Lesus, "Grisia and I put together this plan."
Lesus firmly said, "I wouldn't call it a very sound plan, but it's the best we've come up with. It'll do," Lesus turned toward Roland, "as long as you are willing to lend a hand, Roland."
"I never knew both the Sun Knight and the Judgment Knight to be reckless to this degree," Roland commented. "You're actually asking me to cooperate with you. Me. A death lord."
Smiling softly, I quipped, "You've missed out on a lot, Roland. Should've kept in touch."
Ah, am I giving myself away?
After all, I hadn't been trying to emulate Lesus at all. Not since Roland had approached us.
Roland tilted his head to study me in more detail. I shifted, hands tightening before I remembered that I still had a piece of leftover blueberry pie in my grasp. What should I do with it?
Then, he said, "I remember you. Weren't you the one who helped Grisia and I defeat those bullies who had us surrounded outside the training grounds?"
A flash of recognition seem to pass through Lesus' blue eyes as he also placed Roland. Roland's eyes flicked to him before they focused back on me.
Now that Roland had mentioned it... There had been such an event in the past, hadn't there? I'd almost forgotten. It was that time when Roland and I had been surrounded by ten people or so, or should I say...I was the one who had been surrounded? Roland had come to my aid, and then he'd gotten involved too. I seemed to attract all sorts of bullies back then. Well, even now, I still attract all sorts of adversaries, but hey, I strike back hard now, even if it's still never with my fists or sword.
Ten people had truly been too tough even for Roland. I'd managed to sneak out and find Lesus to help us. When he'd heard that it was ten against two, he hadn't hesitated at all. After Lesus joined us, let's just say those bullies hadn't stood a chance.
I'd gotten beaten up so much in the past that I hadn't really kept track of whether or not my helpers had ever met. Two sword idiots like these two...if only Roland had chosen to stay with the Holy Temple, perhaps joining one of the platoons of the Twelve Holy Knights -- he could have even become one of our vice-captains -- I'm sure they would have become great friends.
And I could have prevented...
If only.
If only.
Slowly, I nodded.
"Thanks," he said, years after the fact, to the wrong person. Well, he was facing both of us, and seemed to be angled toward Lesus a bit more than me, but he had to have been thanking me. The Judgment Knight.
I guess I hadn't given myself away after all. Some part of me actually felt...crestfallen?
I'm Grisia, am I not? I wanted to say. Don't you recognize me? Will you...ever forgive me?
Suddenly, Roland smiled one of those small smiles of his that was barely a smile, eyes darting between me and Lesus. So he hasn't used up all of his expressions... Then, he told me, as if we were best of friends and were merely catching up, "You've found a good friend. I'm glad."
Well, thanks for the compliment, Roland.
The way he had said it, however, felt kind of...strange.
Roland said no more as he accompanied us to Pink's place. I kind of thought he was going to mysteriously disappear on us, but I guess there wasn't a need anymore, not when we were all on the same page now, more or less. Sorta. It frustrated me that Roland still didn't recognize me! But...whose fault was it but my own for falling out of touch with him?
Surprisingly, Pink was actually home. I had almost thought she wouldn't be, with how things in stories usually played out. I gave in to my urge to kick her door open. She seriously had it coming. My foot slammed into her cute little door. It flew open, revealing the overly pink interior.
"What have we here?" a girl’s voice sounded.
She was anything but an innocent little girl. I'd never been tricked, and I wasn't going to be tricked now.
"Pink," I growled in Judgment's deep voice.
"Hello Judgment Knight~," Pink said in a singsong. She looked up at us from where she sat resting on a pink chair with her pink shoes propped high in front of her. I could even clearly see her pink undies with the scandalous way she was sitting. "Or are you my future apprentice?"
I threw the blueberry pie at her face. "What do you think?"
to be continued
...this part just had too much talking. I dislike writing conversations. -__-; I have four different drafts of this, guuuuh.
But whoot, Bittersweet Sweetness! It continues! \o\ Still a few more parts to go. Oh, I started this last August. Darn, I was hoping to finish writing this within one year!
Next Part