The coronation arrived with the kind of dizzying speed that all disasters did.
Ira was sat at the very back of the throne room — because he couldn't stomach the idea of being closer — and left with a disturbingly clear view of the prince having a golden crown adorned with an unnecessary amount of precious gems put upon his brow by an unsteady and creepily thin priest, who would probably die of starvation soon.
More than half of the chairs in the throne room were empty and frankly, the only reason the rest of the viewers had come to watch was because there was going to be a free buffet at the after feast.
Nobody was going to miss the chance to steal all of that food.
The rest of the people were simply already dead.
Sinking further into his chair out of an acute sense of embarrassment as the prince — now king — made a grand speech about protecting his country and carrying it into prosperity, Ira put his hands over his eyes and peeked out between them when he couldn't, unfortunately, contain his curiosity. He stared as the prince glittered when the light hit the gleaming clean crown, watched as the mermaid princess stood with a smug smile by the prince's side.
Anybody could see that she was obnoxiously pleased with this outcome and it would lead them to the ever correct conclusion that she was a heartless gold-digger, but somehow the prince — king — was completely oblivious to this. Ira didn't understand it and he had a feeling that he never would.
A hand grabbed a hold of one of his and dragged it away from his face. The warmth of the hand was much appreciated and so Ira didn't object when the former merman held it tight in his grip.
Eventually, the dangerously thin priest pronounced the prince the king with a flat and monotone voice that managed to adequately convey his dissatisfaction with this development. When Ira swept his mental gaze over all of the people in the hall, all of them, even the royal guards, had unhappy and disgusted faces. Nobody was happy with this development, except possibly enemies that saw this as a golden opportunity to strike. His Host stood at the corner of the room, her eyes anxiously fixated on the mermaid princess and her expression very clearly told him that she incredibly worried.
Well, she was right to be worried. It wasn't long now until the mermaid princess would be assassinated and she would have to die.
Ira looked forwards to it.
With that, the coronation was thankfully over and it was time for the after feast. Ira smiled and stood from his seat with his hand still captured in the other man's. The feast would be taking place in the ballroom just next door, and everybody started moving in this direction as one, like a herd of hapless sheep.
Ira decided that it would be easier to just go with the flow rather than to fight it, and so that was what he did, dragging along a former merman behind him.
Around them, a tense silence settled over the people. Nearly no-one was saying a word, contrary to feasts of the past. Everybody was on edge, gearing up with their sacks to collect as much food as possible.
The new king was about to have a bloodbath on his hands in his own castle.
That would be a great first impression.
Ira suppressed a bloodthirsty grin lasted for barely the blink of an eye on his face, at the thought of all of the blood and misery about to descent on the castle like madness. This was the only reason he had deigned to be present at the coronation.
In the ballroom, there were four prepared tables full of tasty looking food on them. As soon as people entered the room, they started running for the food with a single-minded intensity that would scare lesser people. The roar of all of the footsteps echoed in the large hall, and screams rose from the furious people that pulled out knifes and swords and started throwing glasses around.
Other people were trampled to death in the chaos, while even more murdered the people in front of them in cold blood in order to get their food sacks. Nobody was safe.
Ira loved it, and he watched it faithfully from his place by the door, where he had sat down to get a good view. He watched it from above in his mind, as blood spilled and dyed the floor red, as bodies fell to the ground never to walk again, as plates and knifes, forks and glasses were thrown in order to decrease the competition.
By his side, the former merman sat down with him and watched the bloody carnage without saying a word. Their hands were still tightly connected.
Ira took advantage of the support and leaned against the man's side, his head on his shoulder. He whispered, "Isn't it beautiful?"
"Yes." came in response in strong voice of the former merman. "Magnificent."
Ira smiled and looked up at the man. "You think so too?"
"The most beautiful thing I've ever seen." the man smiled gently down at Ira and used his hand to curve Ira's hair back behind his ear. A strange warmth followed the sensation, but Ira didn't think about it any further.
Turning his attention back to the now significantly more red ballroom, Ira looked on as the few people still alive sneaked out through any entrance they could find, whether that was a door or window. Thankfully they were on the bottom floor or there would be even more bodies outside the castle.
Not that there weren't already. Some people had gotten smart and ambushed the people coming out and taking their food instead of fighting for it inside.
Then they ran away as fast as possible, only to be ambushed by the people waiting outside of the castle gates.
Those people were then in turn ambushed by the townspeople.
It was an hilarious cycle.
Eventually, after more then two hours of pure, undiluted chaos, the only people left in the ballroom not Ira and his former merman were dead bodies.
Basking in the smell of fresh blood and the sensation of pain, misery and despair that those spirits left behind, Ira climbed to his feet and stretched out his back. He cracked his neck, waved his arms a little to get the blood flowing again, and started walking in the direction of the double-doors. Behind him, the former merman followed after.
Outside of the ballroom, the hallways were covered with even more bloodied bodies. They laid with their eyes open, their hands outstretched as if they tried until the last second to hold onto their food sacks.
Ira stepped over them without concerning himself with the blood now covering his shoes. It just added character to them.
A groan disturbed the silence. Ira looked around until he caught sight of a sad looking man that was covered in his own blood, trying to keep his intestines from spilling out. Curious, Ira rose an eyebrow and wandered closer. The man kept on groaning the whole time and when he saw Ira out of his one useful eye, the man croaked out a weak, "H-help m-me..."
Ira smiled. "Of course."
He promptly stabbed the man in his throat with a knife that he had nicked from a dead body.
It wasn't like they were going to miss it.
With the man dead at his feet, Ira turned back to the former merman, who stared at him with a look in his eyes that he couldn't understand. "I've missed killing people."
"If it'll make you happy, I'll find a whole world for you to kill."
Ira rose an eyebrow at that, but didn't bother to ask about it. Instead he continued to walk until they exited the castle and found themselves on the front steps of it, blood and bodies still covering the ground. Ira wondered absentmindedly how many people had managed to survive, but couldn't imagine it being many, what with the amount of blood littering the ground.
He stepped between the bodies on his way down so as to not trip on the steps and go rolling down them. Behind him, he heard the footsteps of the former merman following dutifully, and he took the opportunity to check up on his Host.
He knew she was alive, or there would be text saying otherwise.
His Host was laying in her bed, hyperventilating and in the middle of a panic attack. She kept on mumbling about blood and screams and burrowed deeper into her bed at every sound she heard.
Which wasn't much, with the heavy eerie silence that had descended on the whole castle. Ira saw the stark look of primeval fear on her face and checked with an absent mind that he was still recording. Seeing the light confirming it, he switched his view to the new king.
The new king was in the middle of having sex with the mermaid princess, and had no idea of what had just transpired.
The Queen was in the middle of packing when he checked in on her, her face grim and her eyes determined. She at least, knew what had happened at the coronation feast and had decided to take action, even if it wasn't the best for the kingdom. There was a certain kind of respect in that, in getting out of a bad situation.
There was a power in realizing when to give up, when to stop trying to fix things.
Sometimes it just wasn't meant to be, and that was okay.
Ira wandered down the steps, around the now blood-filled fountain and followed along the winding path leading to the castle gates.
The golden gates were, like everything else, splattered with blood. The guards were dead and surrounded by even more bodies. There was not a sack anywhere to be found. These people had really been thorough.
It was not until they had left the castle gates that he realized there was no cart to pick them up. All of the horses were gone as well, most likely for their meat, or they had gotten loose. One of the other. Cursing, Ira turned to the former merman and gave him a considering look. It didn't seem impossible.
Narrowing his eyes, Ira demanded, "Carry me back."
"Of course." the man smiled gently at him, his inhuman eyes glowing in the night. He bent down and without wasting a second, Ira climbed onto his back and held on tight.
"You know," Ira began and closed his eyes. "it's nice, the way you listen to me. It so rarely happens."
"I'll always listen to you." the man answered in a low voice.
On the edge of falling asleep, Ira asked, "Do you promise?"
"Yes."
Ira, with his eyes closed, let his mind wander and checked in on his Host once more. She was now in the middle of the ballroom, trying to clean up all of the blood. By the look on her face and the health status, he could tell she had already thrown up twice from the visceral view and overpowering smell. She wasn't the only one there, rather all of the maids and servants were gathered and helping to clean.
They were very clearly pissed off about it, but they cleaned.
Reluctantly.
In the king's quarters, the new king and the former mermaid princess — because she wasn't anymore — laid sleeping on the bed, not a worry to be seen. This room was also covered in lit candles.
Feeling sleep creeping up on him, Ira returned his attention to the former merman carrying him and hugged him tighter.
It was unexpectedly nice, not being utterly alone.
His head rested on the man's shoulder and he could hear the man's voice as he whispered,
"Sweet dreams, Ira."