K Fanfic: SoulBound

Characters: It's supposed to be Mikoto and HOMRA centric, with side doses of Munakata and Fushimi, and guest appearances by a variety of others. I will force it back on that path soon, but somehow, the beginning chapters got hijacked by Shiro and the Gold King, of all people. You have been warned!

Pairings: Lots of bromance between Mikoto and just about everyone else. If I do add in an actual pairing, it will probably be YataxMikoto, with a helping of KusanagixMikoto and MunakataxMikoto, but I don't know yet.

Summary: "I won't let anyone else die." Shiro was going to stand by those words come hell or high water, even if he had to resort to a risky, complicated, time-consuming, and near-impossible plan to do it. There would be a happy ending to this story. (A "for the sake of my continued sanity, let's try bringing back Shiro and Mikoto!" fanfic)

Author's Note: This was written entirely for my own benefit, in order to straighten out my head and emotions when it came to K killing off my all time favorite character, Mikoto, and thus wrecking Homra, my all time favorite clan (it was like bowling, all the pins being knocked down with one strike ;_;). Consider it an attempt to purge my K-induced angst and emotional turmoil. It's my very first fanfic, and it's turning out to be epic in length, with lots of chapters and side drabbles and unexpected plot developments (and when I say 'unexpected', I mean by me.). I'm posting it here a bit at a time on the off chance that someone out there might find some level of enjoyment from this lumbering monstrosity, but I won't get my hopes up. Feel free to reach out to me with any comments, feedback, suggestions, etc. (But please be nice! As I said, I haven't ever written one of these before, so I'm more than a little nervous here! T-T) Encouragements are also most welcome!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not K, not its characters, and not any of the other animes I might have drawn from for character inspiration.

Beware: The first few chapters are a bit slow and information dense. They're completely necessary in order to build the framework for the rest of the story, but I wouldn't call them indicative of the tone of the later chapters, as they'll be much more character and relationship based. If you can brave your way through these first few chapters, I promise it gets better! ^.^

Prologue:

December 17th

Adolf K. Weismann, now Isana Yashiro, stood at the bottom of the flight of stone steps that would lead him to the battleground of the Red and Blue Kings, gazing up at the two Swords of Damocles clashing in the air. Just from looking at them, he could tell how this situation would be ending. The Red King's Sword was deteriorating rapidly, and had been for some time.

Shiro sighed, a sad smile gracing his lips. He truly didn't want anyone else to die during this conflict, and there was but one way that he could see to achieve such a goal. He could just imagine the lecture that the Lieutenant would be giving him if he knew, words like "reckless", "impossible", and "suicidal fool" would surely be used in abundance. But there was no other path that Shiro could find that led to an ending that would be even remotely happy.

Kuroh's words echoed in his head, his description of the Red Clan being the one with the strongest bonds serving to cement his decision and harden his resolve. It didn't matter that the risks where high and possibility of success low. He would do everything in his not inconsiderable power as the First King to prevent the death of anyone else but the one trapped inside him.

A rough jerk from said Colorless King startled him back into motion. This was no time to be standing about daydreaming. They were all running too short on time as it was. He began to steadily make his way up the stone staircase, the steps of his plan locked firmly in his mind.

"Mission Miracle Save, start!"

Ten minutes later found Shiro floating in the sky above the Red and Blue Kings, once more a soul without a body. So far, his plan seemed to be working out quite well. He had managed to catch both of the Kings by surprise when he dropped down on them from above. His first course of action had been to use his handy umbrella to force the Blue King back a distance, leaving him alone with the Red King. The exhaustion on the other King's face and the burned, blackened skin of his right arm had Shiro wincing internally in sympathy. Convincing the other to kill him had been as simple as offering the option to him, which was to be expected. After all, the Red King had been doing everything in his power to accomplish just such a goal.

The entire plan had hinged on the Red King managing the feat of killing him before the Blue King could interfere, and he had succeeded. The moment his fist made contact with Shiro's chest, the Silver King acted. As he had with the Blue Clan's lieutenant earlier that day, he tuned into the spectrum of the Red King's biological wave, and quickly had it synched to his own. He took this process a step further than he had with Awashima, however, forcing the bond to dig deeper, past the physical body, wrapping it firmly around the Red King's soul. The process was completed in an instant, the glow that briefly resulted from it completely hidden within the light show caused by the Red King's final attack. Shiro had then let himself fall backwards, a content smile on his face, as his current body was vaporized in the flames of the Red Kings power, along with the corrupt soul of the Colorless King.

Presently, Shiro was simply waiting for the confrontation between the two down on the ground below him to reach its inevitable conclusion. As he floated above the crater, listening to the final exchange between the two Kings, he found himself glad yet again that he had chosen this path. The Red King truly inspired strong bonds between himself and other people. It wouldn't be just the Red Clan that would suffer if he were to die here, but the Blue King as well.

The peaceful smile on the Red King's face as he watched his Sword travel towards the ground, arms spread wide and trusting his fellow king and, dare Shiro think it, his friend, to do his duty and protect the things they both cared about, was heartbreaking to watch. But Shiro pushed such feelings aside, turning his concentration to the monumental task at hand. Even as the Blue King rushed forward, Shiro reached out with a mental hand for the newly formed bond between himself and the Red King. He grasped it firmly, and let his power flow into it, letting the charge build even as the Blue Kings sword pierced the Red King's chest. The moment the Red King began leaning on his fellow King's shoulder, Shiro sent that power spiraling into the Red King, simultaneously planting a kernel of his power into the physical body, while at the same time wrapping the rest around the Red King's soul in an intricate pattern that could be described as a web.

The moment that his heart stopped beating, Shiro began to pull, using the web to draw the Red King's soul towards him. This was what would be the most energy-consuming and risky part of this whole plan. Shiro was fighting directly against the order of the world, preventing a person's soul from following its natural path to the afterlife upon death, instead forcing it to remain in this world without the anchor of a living body. If he failed here, it would result in both of their souls being torn to shreds by the conflicting powers. He could hear a young girl screaming in the distance, but paid it no mind, steadily and inexorably drawing his fellow King's soul to himself, inch by painstaking inch. Once it reached him, an exhausted, dully shining red sphere of light, he quickly tucked the soul within his own, surrounding it with his power of inviobility and protecting it from outside influence. He was infinitely glad that the Red King wasn't conscious right now. He didn't have enough energy to contain a soul that was fighting him a second time today.

Shiro sighed, allowing himself to rest for a moment in preparation for the final step of the journey. As he floated tiredly above the school island, he allowed himself to carefully examine the soul that now resided inside of him. The Red King, no, his name was Suoh Mikoto, wasn't it? And the Blue King was Munakata Reisi. He let this surface knowledge flow from Mikoto to himself, never digging deeper, letting only the most basic of impressions and information travel between them. He truly had been out of touch with the world, hadn't he, if he didn't even know the names of his fellow Kings. He could now sense the state of mind that Mikoto had died in, feel the overwhelming tiredness of the Red King, his devastating grief at the death of his friend Totsuka Tatara, as well as his quiet sadness at having to leave his precious people behind. But most of all, Shiro could feel the unrelenting resolve to protect those in his care, even from himself, no matter what the personal cost. Remembering Kuroh's description of this King, he smiled to himself. For someone who was supposed to be both ill-tempered and violence incarnate, he didn't seem to be a bad person.

Shiro was distracted from his musings by movement down below. Munakata appeared to have left the area, and in his place were Kuroh and Neko. He was glad to see that his two clansmen appeared to be alright (and, oh, didn't that have a nice ring to it, his clansmen?), but their search for him, and their despair when they were unable to find him, made his heart ache. He found himself smiling at Neko's refusal to believe him dead, and it only grew wider as Kuroh agreed with her. He watched them head towards the bridge with a sense of anticipation. Once everything was in place, he would definitely find his friends again, no matter what.

Just as Shiro was about to set off towards his next destination, he heard a chant in the distance, and noticed beautiful balls of red light rising up into the sky towards their position. 'These must have been the Red Clan's marks' he mused, watching the orbs float in the air around them in a beautiful display of light and color, only to be shocked as the power contained within them started to flow into the soul within his own. He could feel them bolstering Mikoto, each one adding to the King's battered strength, even if only by a fraction. This caused Shiro to grin happily, as it solved one of the problems he had been worried about. He'd been concerned that Mikoto might not make it to their destination, or have enough strength left to do what needed to be done once they reached it, but now the Red King's soul, while still exhausted and damaged, no longer seemed to be on the verge of going out like a candle flame when met with a gust of wind.

As the last of the red orbs faded away, Shiro drew his power about himself and began the laborious process of moving them towards the Gold King's Tower and the Dresden Slate housed within it. 'Now, here's to hoping the Lieutenant is as detail-oriented and thorough as he used to be.' And with that thought, the two Kings shot through the sky, appearing to any observers to be two shooting stars, one bright silver, the other a more subdued red, journeying together across the heavens.

Author's Note 2: And that's the prologue. Bravo if you managed to make it to the end of it and still want to continue reading this! I promise things pick up within the next few chapters! -.-;