[fic] With Dragon's Blood - Chapter Thirty One ~Fourth Night Falls~
Title: With Dragon's Blood
Author:
prettyorianna
Pairing: Akame, PiKame, JunDa, Koki/Maru
Rating: NC-17.
Genre: fantasy
Beta by: my cat. okay, seriously, nobody
Disclaimer: I don't own KAT-TUN, any of its members, any other JE people. I write this for fun and for other fans of these fine folks. But don't steal my plots, mmkay? I put a great deal of time into them except for when I'm randomly spastically spitting words onto a page. But I value those too... ALSO NOTE that if you steal my land, the language, the names, myths, maps or anything else from it and I find you, I'm sooo gonna be pissed. This world is special to me and I've spent almost 15 years on it.
Summary: Nobody believed an army could cross the mountains. Perhaps that's why nobody was prepared when they did...
Warning: Character death(s). Violence. Maybe more stuff; will modify as needed.
Nifty Banner done by Deshisoraba!!
Author's Note: Sorry about being a couple hours behind. My hubby's work schedule has been changed and it's throwing my own into chaos. But better late than never! And I apologize in advance to thesecretdoor. Why? Well, that would be telling. Just read LOL
The Master Posts:
On my journal - With Dragon's Blood Master Post
On the akame_ Community - With Dragon's Blood Master Post
On the akame_fanfics Community - With Dragon's Blood Master Post
On the je_kamenashi Community - With Dragon's Blood Master Post
On the kattun_fanfics Community - With Dragon's Blood Master Post
On the jin_fics Community - With Dragon's Blood Master Post
Chapter Thirty One ~Fourth Night Falls~
The sound of stone scraping stone ended, Tatsuya’s screaming voice now gone from Junno’s hearing. Dropping his hands to his side, he just stood there waiting. He knew what was about to happen and he wasn’t going to try to run from it. That would be cowardly… something he might expect from his bitch of a sister but not something he’d ever do.
Hopefully it would be a clean death. The thought of torture was a little less than appealing. Given the imperatives of the campaign, they might just be glad to kill him and have done with it so they could move on to the more important matters.
Hopefully.
The ranking officer in the room assigned two men to watch him as he called up to the ship. “Problem in the throne room. Need reevaluation.”
From the handheld communicator came a voice, “Situation?”
“Secondary and Tertiary targets escaped. Imbedded Agent Junno, ID number 19851129-AB, traitor, taken into custody.”
A pause. Finally, “Castle unstable. Question traitor before moving on. Direction of escape?”
“Unsure. Tunnel behind the wall. Opening mechanism apparently sabotaged.”
“Interrogate prisoner and report back.” Damn. Junno knew what interrogation really meant. There wasn’t much he could do about it, though. The men set to watch him were even now putting him in crystal cuffs.
“Understood.”
A wave from the ranking officer and Junno was brought to the man, his hands now firmly cuffed behind him. With passive eyes, Junno looked the man in the face, trying to mentally disconnect from his body before they got started.
+++
Tatsuya wanted a moment. Ryo guessed he understood a little, but they needed to go. Who knew how long the route would be, even with the directions and the… what did Junno call it? A light crystal? Well, it was a crystal and it gave off light, so ‘light crystal’ was it. But Laureth said to give him the moment.
Tatsuya did catch up to them after a bit, at least. He looked worn, to be honest. The anger that colored his eyes not yet ten minutes ago was gone, replaced by a great tiredness. Actually… the dark circles under the prince’s eyes led Ryo to believe it wasn’t just the shock. Junno must have kept him up late.
Not that he could blame him. What would he have done, in that position?
Wait. Was that sunlight peeking through… whatever it was in front of them? What were those… ah, vines. Thick vines. Good thing Tatsuya thought to grab his sword.
The three of them stood there at the vines for several silent minutes before Ryo finally said, “Tatsuya?”
“Hmm?” Tatsuya responded distractedly.
“The vines?”
Tatsuya glanced over at him. “Yes?”
“Your sword?”
“Oh.” And Tatsuya finally went into action, clearing the way.
Ryo had never seen Tatsuya like that. Not even close. Not even after that especially big fight he had with his parents a couple of weeks ago about Junno’s purpose in the castle (Tatsuya ended up telling them he’d hired Junno as his personal servant and that under no circumstances was Junno going to be kicked out, not even by them). He wished he had some way to comfort Tatsuya, but the man didn’t return his feelings. What could he really do?
Damn it…
Well, he had to do something. He couldn’t stand seeing the man he loved in so much pain. But what could he do?
Maybe he could at least find out some more about what was going on. He was just a journeyman harper, but still a harper. He was pretty sure he could talk his way out of any tight spot he found himself in.
“Tatsuya, I have some stuff to do. Can you meet me where we first met, in about three hours?”
The look Tatsuya shot Ryo was made completely of ice, all hard and sharp and accusing. “What stuff? Are you a f-fucking spy, too? Are you betraying me as well?”
“I’m not!” Ryo practically shrieked, indignant.
Tatsuya’s eyes lost their hardness, but he wasn’t even looking at Ryo anymore. He was just staring off into the distance. “Not that it would matter. Not now, anyway…”
“Tatsuya…”
A small laugh from the prince, but definitely not a happy sound. “It’s all fallen apart… What do these people want?”
“I’m going to find out.” Ryo reached out towards Tatsuya, but then he changed his mind, dropping his hand back down to his side. “I’ll be there, in about three hours. I hope… you will be, too.”
Ryo didn’t wait for an answer. No matter what Tatsuya said, it wouldn’t have changed Ryo’s mind so best to just go. He couldn’t take the passage back, but he’d become pretty familiar with all of the different gardens in the months he’d lived at the castle. It didn’t take all that long to wind his way back around to a side door.
He was about to open it when he heard something from the other side. Whoever it was moved closer and closer apparently, because the volume kept going up. When the doorknob started to turn, Ryo did the only thing he could think of.
He climbed a tree.
Okay, it wasn’t the best place to hide. It wasn’t like he was invisible up there. But hopefully nobody would think to look up into a tree because they weren’t expecting anyone to be in it.
As the door opened, he heard a piercing scream that suddenly stopped right in the middle. The voice of someone close to the door who was just now walking out into the garden said to the man walking with him, “Oh, finally! I can’t believe how well that traitor’s voice carried this far. The screams were giving me a headache.”
“Do you think he gave anything useful up?” his companion asked, closing the door behind them.
The first man shook his head. “I think it’s more just a punishment than anything else. Did you hear, he actually helped the suspected Mage escape?! They’re going to execute him in that large stone-paved circle in the western garden in about an hour, I think.”
“So that’s what happened? I just know Laviet was pissed about something going wrong and then there was talk of a spy turned traitor.”
From the first man, “Well, we may have lost the one, but at least this attack wasn’t a total loss. They manage to surprise the Queen right after she transformed and she’s been bled. They’re bringing the blood up to the ship now.”
Wait, wait… back up a bit! What was that about the Queen? ‘Been bled’? He leaned down a bit more to hear better. Did that mean she was…
… and Ryo lost his balance and fell to the ground right in front of the two enemy warriors.
They jumped back in surprise, weapons suddenly ready.
“Um…” Ryo said in an embarrassed tone, “Do you guys want an apple?” and he picked one up off of the ground that had shaken off the branches above from his fall and held it up to them uncertainly.
Roughly he was pulled to his feet. The first man, the one that seemed to be the alpha of the two, gave him an intimidating look. “What were you doing in that tree?”
“I live there?” He made it a question.
“Right.” The man turned to his companion. “Maybe we should take…”
But Ryo interrupted him. “No, please, don’t take me to the Queen! I just… we need the food. Please, I’ll just take the apples and go. She doesn’t need to know!”
The second man said, “You don’t have to worry about her. She’s de-”
“Shut up, Massu.”
Massu shut up.
The first man stared at him for a minute before finally releasing him. “Take the apples you have and just go.”
“Thank you! My family thanks you!” he chirped cheerfully, making a great show out of grabbing as many apples that had fallen as he could carry. As Ryo walked away, he heard the man mutter to his friend, “What kind of nutter sneaks in to steal food during a friggin’ battle?”
“The stupid kind?”
But Ryo’s mind was reeling. Queen Lashane was dead, it seemed. It sounded almost like Junno was being tortured, judging from the scream and the conversation of the two warriors at the door, and very soon they would kill him, too.
What did that leave for Tatsuya?
His parents who, though they love him very much, cause him nothing but stress. One grandmother dead, another one frequently gone for long periods of time without notice. And Ryo himself, though he had to admit… contemplating what Junno was going through and that he’d obviously known it would happen but did it anyway, Ryo felt pretty unworthy of loving Tatsuya. All he ever did was write Tatsuya songs and snipe at Junno. Junno gave him everything he had to give.
He would never be enough. Ryo didn’t need magic to tell that future. It was just as certain as the sunset that was fast approaching.
That was the minute Ryo decided to rescue Junno.
+++
Maru was completely furious. He’d been searching for that slut for four hours and couldn’t find her. He knew every inch of that ship! Every hidey-hole, every little spot to duck into, and he still couldn’t find her! Damn it!
It was full dark by then and he was tired.
Still incredibly pissed, he stormed off for the Admiral’s cabin, slamming the door behind him when he got there. With a grunt, he told Koki to move over and went to bed. He’d find that whore in the morning and after he was done with her she’d never try to hide again. Oh, yes. He’d make sure of it…
+++
The more he filled in his map, the more sense the layout started to make. But it was getting dark and Kame was having trouble seeing the map anymore. His orb would give off light but he couldn’t use it in the corridors for that purpose because it’d attract notice. Eventually he had to admit to himself, there was nothing more he could do that night.
He went back to the last cubby-hole he’d found and tucked himself away. He didn’t know if he’d be able to sleep or not, but he was about to find out. His nerves were completely shot. He had no idea it was going to take quite so long to just find the stuff.
+++
Jin was growing increasingly worried. He was now ending his third watch, staring out the window for Kame’s signal. The sun had completely set. What was taking so long? Had…
No. Jin couldn’t even begin to think it. If he didn’t think it then it couldn’t be true.
Right?
He was mildly surprised by a hand on his shoulder and Yamapi’s voice quietly whispered, “You really do love him, don’t you?”
That brought a small laugh from Jin. “For all the good it does me.”
Jin was completely floored by what Yamapi asked him next. “Would you forgive him? I mean, if you were me. Would you forgive him?”
“I’m not you.”
“I meant…”
“I know what you meant.” And Jin sighed. “I would have made the promise. If you had made that promise, he would have waited until his very last breath for you. Can't you see that? I don’t understand why you didn’t make the promise.”
“I had mother’s voice in my head, telling me, even as he was promising to wait for me, that he would be unfaithful and wasn’t worth my love. With her in my head like that… I pulled away. I regretted it but it was too late to fix it.”
Jin could only nod sleepily.
Yamapi finally said, “I’ve got this watch. Your mother looks like she needs more sleep. You, too.”
“Right, then.” But Jin couldn’t resist adding one last bit. “Whether you forgive him or you don’t, you need to decide soon. It’s cruel to leave him in such an uncertain state and I may have to kick your blue ass if you drag your feet. Good night.”
++++++++++++++++++++++
The story continues:
Chapter Thirty Two ~Harper to the Rescue~
A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Sorry about torturing Tatsuya. Unavoidable. Don't kill me, thesecretdoor. At least he isn't dead yet!