Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was pointless being in a city that was covered in rain and in cheap and fake disguises. But it was all apart of the plan. It was required of herself and Nene and Mafuyu she supposed, holding onto her blade tightly and letting the rain soak her bones.

“Oh, come on,” Nene grumbled, messing with the claw machine. “I fucking hate these things.”

“Then why make us waste time on them?” Ena questioned looking at her suspiciously. She rolled her eyes. “I don’t get this.”

“You don’t get much because you’re old.”

“And Mafuyu isn’t?”

“I keep up with the times surprisingly well. Besides, I’m not five-hundred-years old. We needed to waste time and stall anyway, it won’t kill us to let Nene indulge herself.”

“It’s fruitless.”

“We can go and play on the other machines, because you were drawing the other day so your hand to have healed up... right?”

Ena pulled a face at that statement. She always made a promise to Nene to get her to be quiet, in reality she would never play games with her because she didn’t get it and her hands did hurt. Her hands were needed to do art and everything else she liked willingly. If she had limited mobility, she would cherish herself. It would always be Shinonome Ena over Kusanagi Nene any day of the week.

Mafuyu laughed a little, though it was dry and empty like she was laughing because she knew she was meant to laugh and not because she wanted to laugh. It was hard to work with an emotionless puppet like her sometimes but then again, wasn’t she similar?

There was a low rumbling. It sounded like a groaning really and the world felt hot for the moment, a train bursting through the barrier of the world, the layer that protected the world from other worlds. The rain let up for the moment, the train directly overhead and anger surged through Ena momentarily. She rolled her eyes gritted her teeth, kissing her lips.

“That’s our time to go,” Mafuyu stated, and Nene wanted to complain and grumble but she stopped as soon as she caught Mafuyu’s stare. Ena huffed.

“This is the stupidest scene that Tsukasa has ever made us do,” Nene huffed.

“There’s been worse,” Ena shrugged for a moment.

“I think you are neglecting the fact, Ena, that you have to go and see the Express,” Nene grinned for the moment almost cruelly. They looked down the street and raced into it and across the road, phone in hand as she played another game, one with the blocks and the colours that stacked on top of one another.

“What’s so interesting in us seeing the express? It’s a train,” Ena frowned, perplexed.

“You’ll see~~~ this is actually interesting, and here I was bored out of my mind upset I couldn’t watch the heathers musical,” Nene frowned over dramatically.

“I think it’s much better than you getting upset and frustrated like a child over losing a game.”

“You’d get upset if you failed an assassination,” Nene snapped.

“And yet, I never fail,” Mafuyu shrugged, smirking slightly to herself. She rolled her eyes as they headed up some stairs up to the rooftop of a building, the metal groaning under their weight as the moon touched their skin.

It was too similar to the past with entangled limbs and moonlight conversations and alcohol together. To long conversations about the mundane and the way the world changed and turned at every glance and the subtle beauty of it all that she did not understand or comprehend in the moment, and she still didn’t. But when she was with them. When she hovered in their orbit and they spoke about it so easily and recited, because if she believed that they created it she would break and cry, poetry about the subtle beauties of the world and discovering it with her. Navigating the way, the world changed until the day she died.

Not that she could do that anymore and she was forced to live in a band of misfits and miscreates and outsiders in the world that were hunted down by everyone. In a group and flock of people that were illegal and hated. That were wanted all across the stars and the universe. Outcasts that formed a reluctant bond that was most certainly real so long as you acknowledged the fact that it was fake and forced. Especially when you knew the real friendship bonds of the past, when you had a real friendship group.

Ena knew what it meant to have real friends and be stuck together and help each other in ways that the other’s couldn’t. Even if there were romantic relations entangled within their friendship group, there was a platonic bond that transcended the romance and love that they felt. There was a strength in their relationship that was almost like family, it wasn’t exactly family, but you tended to morph and twist relationships to that when you had none and you wanted one. When you craved and needed one.

But that was all in the past and now she was a sinner once more and forced to live life and suffer constantly. It was all the history of the world that was gone for centuries and years and no one remembered her or who she was. Though that might’ve been because she had to basically reinvent herself.

Her hair was still long, but it was shorter now. Her outfits were less… cultured she supposed and made for someone without money and fit a more grungier and punk style that was too modern for her. Sheer tops, denim jackets, chains that hung from shorts and garter belts with thick and long black leather boots that people begged for her to ‘step on them’ with. She didn’t understand what that meant but Nene always cackled whenever someone said it online as she looked at social media after their mission and gave them updates on the reports and what people were saying and thinking.

Ena never understood why she was so invested in the words online or even online games in general, but she had no right to judge, and she would just be criticised for her thoughts since she was ‘old.’

The train hovered in the air for the moment, suspended by nothing other than the magic of the large train and how it worked in general. “This is like when you’re watching a show and they tease something that’s four weeks away and you’re bored shitless,” Nene complained.

“You’ll get what you want,” Mafuyu assured her.

Ena shook her head and closed her eyes, resting her head on her hand and her arm on the railing. Mafuyu moved next to her, resting on the railing, clambering onto it.

“You’ve got another ten seconds to keep your eyes closed,” Mafuyu chided which earnt her a pointed stare from Ena as she opened her eyes looking back to the train. It was hard to wait for the doors open and the Express members to get off and trail down the magical steps, but it happened, and she had to sigh and shake her head.

An got off followed by Ichika which was expected at that point. Touya trailed behind them, watching them and monitoring them. He got halfway and frowned, looking back to the door expectantly which ordinarily would mean Kohane was preparing to head off the express and that it was the full team. Strange, really considering one of them was always on the express to keep Count Pearl occupied and to protect the special books and everything else they possessed.

But it couldn’t have been Kohane from how her head began to hurt. It was sharp and painful and felt like someone was stabbing her straight through the head. And trust her, that was exactly how it felt because she had been through something similar once before.

Her eyes began to water and for someone so accustomed to pain, it was strange and weird, and she tried to hide it, so Mafuyu and Nene did not see it and make a comment. She stared at the steps and the open door and that was her biggest mistake.

Their eyes were as pretty as they once were. Why couldn’t their eyes have changed? Well, they had actually, they were full of wonder and joy now instead of cold and hardened from war and knowledge and living for too long. Hesitance was present now as it was back then but for different reasons she thought as their eyes looked at the lights all present around them perplexed.

“Holy shit, this is amazing,” Nene chuckled but Ena remained unmoving as she stared at them and the way they looked.

They looked so much younger now, she did too really. They looked different and too scared for the world around them when before they had some bravery, not the most and not the biggest she supposed, but some was better than none. They looked too timid and meek and like they didn’t know which way was up and which way was down it was what it was.

They didn’t notice her, she was unsure if she wanted them to notice her, but she did just… stop in place and stare at them and the outfit they wore. Something old she supposed. A conductor’s uniform, or something similar. Something that suited the vibe and thoughts of a train and being on there and working on the express, which they would be doing now drawing the hard lines of being enemies.

It was strange to see them with straight hair when they loved the natural bounce and curl of their original hair. But maybe that had changed but then again, it couldn’t have changed. They were immortal or close to be and yet they were frolicking with the Express. It was the same person, and she knew that.

How could they act so different and unaffected? How could they live so casually in a way that it drove her mad and angry? How could they be so calm and collected and so… ignorant? Naïve? They were as old as each other, in fact they were hell of a lot older than her and there they were, looking at the world like it was new and they evolved. They moved with the times, and they didn’t stay stagnant and stuck in their mindset and frame of mind. They always understood how things changed and to seem so lost…

They must’ve been lying, they were always good at it so they could do it and yet, there was a small part of her that wanted to believe they were being honest. That they were not wearing a mask and that they were taking in the world for the first time. But that made her… angry.

You made her suffer like this; you tormented her in her sleep. You made her live in such unbearable anguish and you were able to forget it all and she was haunted in her dreams which were always nightmares.

It wasn’t fair and just.

Kanade would tell them that, maybe Shizuku would but, then again, she…

“Okay, let’s not cause a scene,” Mafuyu instructed, prying their fingers off their weapon. A sword forged like their own sword, not that they ever used it and always gave it to her to use anyway. The weapon that after all the betrayals she had went through, had stayed with her and was by her side and helped her find her identity as a weapon herself.

Ena glared at the purple haired woman who shook her head. “Come on, Enanan, you know we’ve already caused enough of a scene. We were meant to watch them for a certain amount of time, which we did. You know what Tsukasa’s like if we don’t follow his plans to a T.”

“We could wait a few minutes. This is the most entertaining thing to happen to us in a way. Aren’t you the slightest bit interested in this, Mafuyu?” Nene reasoned.

“It’ll be revealed in due time. I am sure,” Mafuyu answered almost self-assured. “Now, let’s go. We don’t want to reveal our cards too soon and I doubt you want them to see you now Enanan.”

Ena remained silent, but her hand loosened up the slightest moment. “Perfect,” Mafuyu grinned. “There’s a way off this planet not far away. We just need to make sure we haven’t been noticed and aren’t hunted. Yet.”

“You make this all sound easy,” Nene sighed.

“It really is,” Mafuyu continued and normally Ena would’ve snapped by now from the rain and everything else ruining her day. She would’ve complained about Mafuyu’s arrogance. But in that moment, she was just numb to the whole thing.

She remained silent as she followed Mafuyu’s whose voice had lost that false and forced teasing lilt. She must’ve received the full script of the play and the scene that was currently occurring. The full transcript of the chapter of the book of life that was always being written though, it must’ve been done in advance from how neutral and poised Mafuyu seemed. From how she knew exactly what to say and what to do to draw Ena away from vengeance without faltering.

Or maybe, if she deceived herself long enough, it was because they were all close to one another and able to decipher each other’s moods?

That didn’t sound right in the slightest and was totally false, but it gave her some false comfort as they headed through the streets. Their boots and chains jangling in the street. There was a brief sound of footsteps, heavy ones, and then a yell and the three of them looked at one another and ran. Raced through the city in the night and to their escape route, the place on alert for them and their infamy which made Nene grin for the moment to herself before conjuring one of her little creatures to defend them and cause havoc. To cause chaos. To give them enough time to escape unharmed and their goal completed. The scene at its end.

But it was not the end of the play. Not at all. Not when… not when they were out there and alive and fine and she sought revenge. She wanted to kill them the way she wanted to die and was unable to. She wanted them to be alone and isolated.

But that would have to wait for another scene.

Ena hated that but she accepted it because she had all the time in the world. She had all the time to wait ever so patiently.

Actually, she couldn’t, even forced to live an immortal life in this stupid body had not made her able to wait but that was probably because she had nothing to wait for. She had no chance of death on the horizon to wait eagerly each day and pray that she wouldn’t see the next day’s sunrise. She had no way to escape the way that life worked and the fact that whilst she had no beating heart, she was still alive and living and breathing in the cold air.

She had nothing to be excited over and life was a pain and tortuous.

Now she did.

Revenge was such a good thing to wait and be excited for and her dead unbeating heart for the moment acted as though it beat in her chest. It acted like it was alive and so was she. Truly alive she meant. Not what people constituted as alive because she walked the earth and wasn’t a motionless corpse. Alive in the sense that she was able to breathe and run and jump and sing and so much more and do all those things with a feeling.

To feel love again.

That was a far-off dream and something that wasn’t true as she shared a bracelet with them. An engagement bracelet and whilst she shouldn’t still wear it, she still did wear it. Having the metal against her wrist was soothing in a way that no one else could realise or fathom.

Now it felt too cold on her skin upon seeing them.

Everything felt off now because the world only felt right when she was in their arms, when they let her rest her head in their neck because if she did it to them, their horns would graze and maybe puncture her neck. They were always hesitant to let her do so but eventually relented because as much as they loved her and wanted her safety, they were overly physically affectionate. Plus, she apparently let out the cutest giggles that they ‘could not refuse.’

She got up and headed to her own room, breaking the peaceful silence of the common room because now they knew that she was rattled and irritated and peeved off. She entered her room and looked around for her sketchbook, tattered and torn for the short time it was in her possession, and she drew. Even through the pain of wear and tear of her hands and fingers, she drew until her pencil ran dry and it was too excruciating for her to ignore anymore.

And even then, the pain returned with a strong fervour. An image of them seared onto the paper and in her mind. Memories of happier times when she would be with a different set of four people instead of Mafuyu, Nene, Rui and Tsukasa. It would be different people. People whose faces were hazy for some of them and in pure clarity for others and brought out complex feelings in her heart and mind which waged war on one another how to feel.

She traced a finger down the cheekbones of her sketch and shook her head. When would their retribution come for their countless and numerous crimes? When would they have their peace for the heinous acts they did? When would she feel a scrap of peace that they felt on the express?

She didn’t know.

She ripped it out, she was bound to be chided by someone when they went snooping and realised that she had ripped the page out. That she was keeping a secret from them. Obviously, it would not be for long really because it would come out one day. But she wanted them to be late to the knowledge of her relationship with them because they would take too much glee from interrogating her about it.

The fire in her room, because she still had to live in warmth because of them, burnt brightly. Too brightly. It was so tempting, and she was a fool and servant to temptation.

She crossed the room, paper in hand and tossed it in. She watched it burn and curl up into itself. She heard the unspoken pleas and protest of the paper as it was reduced into nothing. She never looked away and watched as an eye appeared for the moment and it was gone.

Like she would have to force her memories to.

Chapter Text

The birth of a hermit was a strange and rare occurrence. They did not breed or birth like other species and whilst they used an egg like other species, they did it in a different way. It was a strange way and esteemed, even if it was more depraved than murder of humans.

Hermits were rare and lucky things and Hermits would, eventually, go on to become High Elders and the rulers of the place. After they emerged and matured and lived their life to the fullest that they could live their life to. Being monarchs and rulers before the cycle redid itself and they died at some point, as it was an inevitability for them all to die because nothing was immortal and Hermit’s most certainly were not.

Akiyama Mizuki was the youngest of the Akiyama family. The lineage that followed the High Elder and were chosen long ago to be the ones with the torch and whilst their last name had changed over the eons and morphed, the family was exactly the same as it had been. They were gifted with the horns and the long pink lashes and the bright pink eyes and pink hair. It was all in the genes for them for people to recognise who they were so no one could claim to be one when it wasn’t for them to do so.

It was a nice summer day when they were born and there was a celebration throughout the whole country, it reached the poorest of the poor and the richest of the rich. The whole world coming together to celebrate the second birth of a hermit from the monarchy because they were not content with one alone. They were paranoid, and for good reason, worried about trouble and dissent brewing in their country and kingdom. Worried about attempts to murder them.

But the public was unaware of it all as they introduced the younger one to the whole country. Rejoicing and celebrating before Mizuki was ushered away like their other daughter was to be trained and morphed secretly. Isolated from them all save a select few. Those of whom they deemed worthy and trustful. Things that were close to friends but that mere concept alone was dangerous for them because it meant there could be so many assassins and suspects if one of them died under suspicious means.

There were things that lingered in the walls and dissent that was harboured in the hearts of the populace that their own self-preservation and protection was valued. Especially as Yuuki grew up and was succumbing to the pressures inside of their palaces and the world that they all wanted her to live in and grow up in.

All consuming and pressurising.

#

Mizuki was not always their daughter, but mentally they always were. People from that time, the trusted authors and such, those who showed their monarchs loyalty and respect, would always say that Mizuki was a girl. It was hard work for the family to pull off and was met with some resistance from the other places within the empire, kingdom thing, but it was worth while to see Mizuki’s little smile.

They may not have had the horns a female hermit had, but they were authentically themselves and that was all that mattered as they called in different designers to help them create an illusion of true femininity. To seem as though that was who they were biologically.

Illusions and presentation was important to them, same with swimming and keeping their head above water and not faltering. There were too many pressures in ruling a whole kingdom and being as powerful as they were. The whole kingdoms power balance resting in their hands and their wisdom and knowledge and guidance. Laws had to be fair and just and within reason and not done for the sake of making laws because they could.

Each aspect was counted for and was held in high regard during consideration, and from there, the future would be clear and accounted for.

Mizuki was only two hundred when they were encouraged to think about pressure and circumventing it. Avoiding themselves being ensnared by its false and empty promises and delights. To rise above it and be better than those before them and to learn from their fatal flaws and mistakes.

Mizuki remembered that conversation well and the worried look on their mother and father’s face. He was getting old actually. Their father was not like their mother and was not born with the chance to live thousands of years and stretching into eons and the unknown. Infinity. Their father was a mortal who their mother happened to stumble upon and decided that that was who she wanted to mate with for the rest of her pitiful existence, long or short.

Two hundred to some people seemed to be like recalling a time of the first person on earth. It was too long ago it seemed when in reality, it was not in the slightest for them. It was, more likely, less than one percent of their whole life experience that they would have at the tip of their fingers if they so wished and if they were calm and collected. Cool and thoughtful. Serious and determined, unwavering in their devotion and their logic and too strict and to the point.

Their father was gaining wrinkles and there were more guards that flanked him than ever before, their mother had always made sure he was heavily protected as he was not a hermit nor was he blessed by any Gods outside of a lifespan that aged extremely slowly. It was the only solace he had throughout his whole life as his hairs began to become a grey that so many people loved and fancied him for and his mind became less sharp and witty and more relaxed and at ease. His limbs hesitant and laggy. Delayed and frail.

Seeing death this close to them was rather strange and off putting as they stood up straighter and listened to the lecture from both of their parents. They were serious. There were no little snippets of laughter or inside jokes between the three of them because the guards knew when to be deaf working for them. There was none of that family love and passion and adoration.

This was a High Elder instructing another one how to be an heir and then, possibly, the next High Elder.

Any children Yuuki had would have a stronger claim than them provided they were not a literal child even in the human sense. Then, when they became of age, Mizuki would fight them and there would be a clear winner between the two of them. And the line of succession would continue.

That wasn’t a problem at the moment, at least, they didn’t think so but with how jittery their mother was and their father being so close to death himself. Mizuki had to prepare themselves to say ‘goodbye.’

So they listened, applied themselves and they didn’t stop. The more tasks and lectures and books to read they were given, they did it dutifully and without complaint. They would burden the brunt of the force so that on that fateful day where their father died naturally and their mother crumpled to the ground and was assassinated, they were not shocked or unprepared.

They understood it all and when the workload only increased, they were ready for that and the evolving and ever changing times whilst their sister tried to stay afloat and fell.

She was poisoned shortly after the death of their parents and then Mizuki was High Elder. Their horns crumbling as they ascended, and people took that to be that they would crumble under the pressure. But Mizuki would be unwavering. They understood their role and the way that their society worked, and they would evolve and adapt with it and be more than the past and previous rulers, that was for sure.

Four hundred or so years into their rule, they were stable enough and attempts on their life were infrequent enough that they could venture out to the whole kingdom. See how progression was in society and civialisation.

On that journey, through each and every village and town and city, they recruited someone new. A new friend and trusted confidant who was bequeathed with information and a reduced aging affect in a public ceremony and formed Mizuki’s closest friends and compatriots. They wouldn’t die other than through dramatic measures and would live with Mizuki by their side forever and ever, offering insight to the more deprived areas and their mindset that Mizuki did not understand living the lavish life they did.

The three of them worked alongside with Mizuki amicably and the world was changing. But it was not always meant to change and roughly, 1500 years or so in their rule, a wrench would be thrown in the mix. And there Mizuki would falter and perhaps create a large issue. A conundrum for others to solve one day.