It was a matter of time before the next enemy appeared. Things were too fragile, peace too new, the Guard too weak. After Bonnet, the idea that the Guard could be defeated had been spreading like cancer. The idea of the Captains being defeatable too present in the minds of everyone.
Hungry-power bastards had always existed.
The difference was in the way the Guard and the Councils were not in a position to squash the revolutions anymore. Not when they had lost Captain after Captain, the level of power going down faster than a waterfall.
Reapers dropping like flies, leaving unseated reapers acting as Lieutenants and Captains by the end of the Thousand-Winds War.
Keisuke himself, a criminal and convicted traitor, had been offered a full pardon and his Captaincy back. He had refused, of course. After all, he liked to think he was a smart individual and as humans say… fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
He also had more important things to focus his energy on than the hellish bureaucracy, things like the best way to fix Ichimaru's situation.
His plan. His fault. His mistake.
Ichimaru is lucky to have survived at all, well, if you consider 'lucky' to have your golden core melted into nothing. Keisuke doesn't. And he's sure Ichirmaru doesn't either. 'Cause no matter how much the red-head liked to proclaim he was human, the truth was that he had long stopped being one.
Ichimaru was a reaper though and thought and such, it was surprising he hadn't offed himself off or had gone completely insane. But just as the presence of a new enemy, Ichimaru's decay was only a matter of time.
"Yo, Mad-hatter." Kali's voice interrupts his musings.
Keisuke's lips immediately form a teasing smile, holding his hand up in an enthusiastic wave. "Young Kali! What brings you to my modest shop this late at night? Hopefully not more training, mmm. Your brother would kill me if your grades started to drop."
'Cause Ichimaru was weird like that.
"Ichi-nii wouldn't kill you." Kali scoffs. "He's too much of a sap for that. But Yu would definitely hit you with a pan."
Keisuke winces, fingers immediately going to an imaginary lump on his head. He won't admit it to others but he finds Little Yu to be very terrifying. And the fact that she had set his robes on fire (don't ask him how he doesn't know) after he broke up with Ichimaru just seems to confirm he is right in his assessment of her.
"There, there." Kali pats his knee mockingly. "Don't you worry Mad-Hatter, I'm not here for training. I don't share Ichi-nii's level-of-stupidity, I know how to take it slow."
"Young Kali, you're so mean," Keisuke informed her with a laugh while pushing the guilt down, a normal occurrence nowadays. "What can this humble shop owner do for you then?"
Kali's face sheds the mischievousness as it had never been there in the first place. Her face -so similar to his brother's- is one of grim seriousness.
"How long is this going to take, Mad-Hatter? It's been more than two years now."
"It will take what it needs to take." Keisuke drops the mask with equal smoothness. "What I'm trying to do -A faux golden core- is historically a fantasy of insane people. I'm bringing an impossibility to life, Kali. And it's not easy."
It's very, very difficult. This is probably the least realistic project Keisuke has ever tried, including the evolution-powers-thingy that started this whole mess in the first place. And that took him almost two centuries of hard work to produce a half-decent prototype.
Keisuke knows he has not that much time, he knows ok? But rushing would not do anything but make the process slower.
"Ichi-nii is getting worse." Kali sighs, tiredly. Not at all alarmed at seeing his true face but sad, as if he was breaking her heart.
"I know."
Just as he knew Ichimaru would probably die before he got this right. But he couldn't tell Kali that Ichimaru dying was not an issue for him, in fact, he would welcome it. A spirit was better than a human, closer to what they wanted. It would help with the research. Keisuke also had Murakumo with him, there was no way they would lose Ichimaru's trail even if he ended up in the worst parts of district 98.
Ichimaru dying meant he had more time to fix things; souls were immune to spiritual energy and they rarely died when cut down.
Ichimaru dying was probably the best thing that could happen but he wasn't cruel enough to tell a child that.
Just selfish enough to wish for it.
(He misses his lover goddammit! It's not fair.)
Kali opens her mouth to argue but her words are cut short as the temperature drops, goosebumps crawl like ants all over their backs and a bell shines annoyingly into the new silence.
"Sourie," Kali says, getting up with a healthy dose of alarm. "Why is she…?"
Keisuke doesn't let her finish, he pushes his hand deep into her chest, crushing her heart and forcing her to leave the carcass she calls body. It's rude but Keisuke thinks he can be forgiven due to the emergency-like nature of the situation at hand.
He doesn't wait for Kali to get her shit together, already flying forwards to the door. He leaves the empty shop that's been his home for so long behind with little regard, there's no one there to welcome him back anyways.
He sees a reaper wearing a weird symbol on their clothes and cuts them down before the poor thing has the opportunity to draw his sword. Hime goes through them like they're made of butter, fast and unforgivable, he's moving before the enemy becomes dust.
Keisuke kills all of them, even stealing some who are already in a duel with Lieutenants and Captains. This is also rude but hey, if they didn't want him to steal their kills they should have been quicker about it.
This city is his turf after all. And he's done with being nice about it.
/His plan. His fault. His mistake./
"Sourie." He salutes the small Captain with a mocking smile. "How lovely to see you here."
"Kogane." Sourie's as cold as her sword's name implies. "We apologize for allowing this to come this far." She's angry, her grip on her sword handle is enough to make her knuckles white. "This rebellion should not have lasted long enough for the rebels to cross to Earth."
"And yet it did." Keisuke doesn't like empty apologies anymore. "Your enemies are gone, Captain. Leave while you can."
"Y-You dare—!" A Lieutenant whose face Keisuke doesn't recognize sputters in outrage. Like if anyone cared about his opinion.
A second later said the unknown Lieutenant was on his knees, gasping and clawing at their own eyes. Such a big reaction to a glimpse of Keisuke's aura was just another proof of how deep the Guard had fallen.
"Keisuke." Sourie sighs, flaring her aura to save the idiot.
"What? If he cannot recognize me on sight he's not invaluable." Keisuke shrugs, completely unconcerned. "In fact, I'm doing you a favor. You should pick more carefully
the people you allow to watch you back. King, did you learn nothing under the time you rascals spent under my tutelage? Having shitty back-up is worse than no back-up at all."
His morals were appalling but as a General, he did try to keep his people alive; pounding survival lessons onto their skulls was included in that.
"There are not many from where to choose left," Sourie says with a bitterness that makes her otherwise beautiful face look ugly.
Which, fair. But not Keisuke's problem.
And he tells Sourie exactly that, finding somewhat amused as she sputters and falls back into her usual dramatics. It's fun to watch. He missed them. But he guesses being a Captain and Head of her Family did put a heavyweight on her shoulders.
Their adorable discussion is cut short by Kali stopping from a run just a few meters away from them, immediately Keisuke has a bad feeling. Kali has Yu in her arms and both of them are crying, green and brown filled with tears, Yu is bleeding from her arm and Kali looks a little roughed up.
"What happened?" Sourie demands, concern heavy on her aura as she makes Keisuke cough at the potency of the cinnamon filling the air.
"They took Ichi-nii," Yu says with a sad, brittle tone.
And something inside Keisuke snaps.
This is the moment his remaining sanity, the one that survived the betrayal of the Guard, the one that keeps him going as he came to the realization he had practically signed Ichimaru's demise himself, the one that survived Shuri's murder, the one that convinced him to focus his energy on helping instead of destroying, that sanity finally snapped.
Keisuke doesn't use his ascension for fear that nothing will be left after he's done.
/His plan. His fault. His mistake./
Right now? He doesn't care.
Murakumo no Hime surges with the force of a volcanic eruption, beautiful and devastating. Her bloodlust and madness were free for the first time.
Hime's fingers rip apart the Hēi mén, allowing him to enter the Pure Lands without a silver butterfly. The only thing Keisuke can see is Red. He's drowning in a pool of blood. He hears a cruel laugh at the distance, muffled by the liquid surrounding him.
A perfect harmonization is impossible.
The closest thing is allowing the spirit in your blade to take control, to offer your being as a catalyst.
Keisuke drowns in his tears as Hime rips the world apart. It's ok. They will find Ichimaru and swap back. Keisuke will be able to help him. Ichimaru will be safe once again and this time they're not letting him go.
This time they will stay together.
(Kisuke will apologize for being a dick and Ichimaru will forgive them with a huff and make Keisuke do ridiculous things until he cannot laugh anymore and then he will tell Keisuke to not do it again and Keisuke will promise and things Will. Be. Fine.)
…
And if Hime cannot find Ichimaru, then she will burn the world down around them. She will make everyone feel even a tenth of their pain and Keisuke will laugh as she does because a world without Ichimaru is not a world worth living in.
…
Truth be told, Keisuke is not surprised when he comes back to a burning Silver City. He was kinda expecting it.
The issue with the rebellion must have been a lot direr than he thought in the first place. Kisuke is almost upset that Sourie didn't call for help before things went this badly, he wouldn't have helped, sure, but he would at least know he needed to be more careful with his security system.
Ichimaru is resting on what looks like a bed. A stone bed. 'What the heck?'
Keisuke rubs his eyes, grimacing as this does nothing but make his vision get worse as muddled-gold gets all over his face. Ugh. He shouldn't have done that. Ok. Reminder to self, dry your hands before touching anything after a switch.
Keisuke dries his hands on his dusty clothes and gets up.
He's a man of science (And an assassin but really are those, not the same thing?) so he looks around carefully. Frowning as he sees marks on the walls that he does not recognize at all and some that he does, or at least, he thinks he does. Like the dragon decorating the wall behind the bed, Ichimaru is resting on.
That dragon has a disturbing resemblance to Ichimaru's spirit.
And now the bed is giving him evil vibes as he comes closer and the only thing he can think of is Sacrificial table.
Which, no. Absolutely not.
Keisuke touches Ichimaru's neck to check his pulse. Frowns at not finding it. And curses when he moves his hand to Ichimaru's waist and he feels the little pulse of energy that all spirits share.
The body is gone, then.
Not good but acceptable. Keisuke is more comfortable with his chances of getting Ichimaru to survive if he's a spirit and not a human. Humans are weird and he doesn't understand how something so fragile can thrive but whatever, this is not the time to have this kind of thought. He needs to focus.
Healing is not a strength of his, you see. He is a good assassin and thus is capable of keeping the target alive but that and healing are completely different things as he learned by experience and tragic mistakes in his youth.
Nowadays he is a half-decent healer and with a golden core as powerful as his own, repairing damage to others is not outside his abilities.
But the damage to Ichimaru's soul is bad.
Bad enough Keisuke is putting a little too much of himself in keeping him breathing. It's almost as if Ichimaru is rejecting the aid, almost as if he wants it all to stop.
Keisuke knew this was a possibility, of course. But never actually contemplated how high the percentage was.
Ichimaru didn't give in, he didn't surrender. He was stubborn 'till reaching new levels of idiocy. Keisuke had seen him survive and overcome trials that Keisuke himself would have found very difficult to. King, Keisuke had seen him do the impossible with a smile.
Ichimaru deciding to fade was never a possibility Keisuke ever entertained more than a second before scoffing it away. Now he is being slapped in the face with this brittle flame and the only thing Keisuke can think is: No.
(No, he won't let Ichimaru fade like this.)
"Come on, 'Maru. You have to wake up." Keisuke says, feeling his soul shudder as Hime rages at the idea of losing their beloved. "Come one, please. Ichimaru, you have to wake up. Now. Please. You cannot leave me like this. Please, please…"
Brown eyes open and Keisuke almost dies right there and then. He has never been so relieved in his life.
"Good. Keep with me, alright. You're gonna be fine."
Keisuke on the other hand may, not if he continues to deploy his energy as fast as he is doing right now; Ichimaru is like a black hole that eats every speck at a very alarming speed. Not that Keisuke nor Hime care.
If Hime's sacrifice will keep Ichimaru alive, she will take it.
If Keisuke's sacrifice will keep Ichimaru alive, he will take it.
(They cannot think of anything worse than being left behind.)
(If Ichimaru was to die, Keisuke would follow right behind.)
As his limits grow close and the pain turns so high Keisuke can barely hear himself think, Ichimaru has the bright idea of speaking. He's saying something. And Keisuke cannot even pay attention, his vision is so blurry that he cannot make out what the hell is Ichimaru saying even though reading lips is something he learned when he was twenty-five.
If they weren't dying, Keisuke would strangle Ichimaru for doing this to him.
You see, Keisuke knows Ichimaru and thus infers that whatever he's saying is important. And now he's even more guilty because he's not receiving the message that Ichimaru is struggling to share.
Hime is screaming in the back of his head, small and anguished. But Keisuke pushed forward even as his mind entertained a moment of clarity; they're not gonna make it. It's over. The three of them are gonna die. Disappear in a burst of golden dust.
Heh, it's kinda funny actually. In a kind-of-sad way. This is quite anticlimactic and Keisuke wants to cry because if they were always going to suffer like this then all the pain they went through during the war was for nothing.
Their victory was a mirage of smoke and mirrors.
«Do you curse your destiny? Do you hate the path you have traveled so far?»
The voice is clear amongst the chaos that's Kisuke's soul. Strong, powerful. Gentle. A cool aura embraces him and the pain fades as if it had never existed. Keisuke blinks, confused. His brain has problems rebooting from agony to peace.
«If you had the chance, would you go back? Would you do it?»
If another chance was truly possible, then there was only one acceptable answer…
"Yes," Ichimaru says, conviction is as strong as it has always been. "Yes, I would take it."
«Then you shall.»
Keisuke knows, deep on his bones, that this is the end. Even before the darkness seemed to pour into the half-crumbled cave they were in. Covering all in black, eating it all. Erasing a future that wasn't anymore.
Under his hands, there's only a cold stone.
Ichimaru's gone.
Keisuke laughs and laughs and laughs right until the darkness devours him as well.