𝑫𝒀𝑵𝑨𝑺𝑻𝒀 𝑶𝑭 𝑺𝑶𝑼𝑳𝑺 ⇢ Gojo Satoru

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐗𝐋𝐕 - 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄

THE NIGHTMARE WAS ALWAYS THE SAME. Blood, gore and a string of intestines hanging from the stairs. Goldslayer – her sword, the pretty one with a solid gold blade and a purple hilt – covered in red as it dripped on the floor of the abandoned factory. It was eerily silent, the screams long drowned out by the thunderstorm that still rang out. The rain washed the blood away, the thirty-seven corpses laying on the concrete steps, the disembodied parts covered in so many slashes there was barely anything left.

Kinzoku Mikazuki woke with a start, breath caught in her throat as she pushed the covers away. It was still nighttime, the sky dark and devoid of any stars while the hot air dampened her already sweat-covered skin. It had taken a while for the sorceress to get used to it; Akari had tried to explain light pollution to her, and even though the calm sky of Hokkaido was far better than the empty nights of Tokyo there were still very few stars out to gaze at. Still, the concept was far too foreign and complicated for Mikazuki, especially after the ten years of starry nights in Argentina.

The woman groaned, hand running through her hair while her gaze landed on the window. Her grey hair was a mess, far too dry to her liking, the strands were brittle and broke easily. It was one of the consequences of giving away your heart, apparently.

The Kogane Manor was quiet, the servants had already gone to sleep, meaning Mikazuki was the only one currently awake. She could feel the nudge of her sister's presence in the back of her mind along with the twins, back at the main house.

Her mother was gone, probably stayed the night at the school working while her father had decided to stay the night at the company. Contrary to popular belief, the Kinzoku Conglomerate did not run itself, and he'd been gone on leave for long enough. Of course, Asahi hadn't suddenly grown a heart or a conscience, his leave was never about Keisuke. Instead, the head of the Kinzoku Clan had taken the time off to properly groom her as his heir.

The sorceress stepped out from the bed, stretching her arms with a grunt. The nightmare still clung to her senses, an amalgamation of bodies and carnage mixing with the terrible memory of her untimely confession. That evening, standing on that damned rooftop in front of the only man she'd ever loved. Except what she felt then was anything but love. It was devotion – or at least that's what Satoru believed.

That's not love, it's devotion.

He'd said it with such conviction. Out of the two nightmares, this one was worse. Mikazuki could handle the blood, she could handle the sins she'd committed and the lives she'd so easily snuffed out. What she couldn't handle was this, this weakness that festered inside of her, this vulnerability that refused to be extinguished despite all her efforts to do so.

For Gods' sake, she gave up her own fucking heart just so she would never feel like this again. This was why she fed it to that curse, so that no one would ever break it like Satoru had.

Mikazuki checked her watch, realizing it was only two am despite the pitch black sky outside. There was still a long time until the servants woke to prepare breakfast, and the idea of eating or wandering the manor did not sound appealing at all. Instead, she sauntered over to her wardrobe, choosing a simple pair of joggers and a jacket which she zipped up over her pyjama shirt. The outfit was not particularly pretty or refined, but she didn't really care.

The sorceress closed her eyes, calling to the gold between the folds of reality before snapping her eyes open. One loud crack of lightning later and the world shifted beneath her feet. The Kinzoku heiress was no longer within the grounds of the Kogane Manor. Instead, she was standing at the edge of a skyscraper, the city of Tokyo glowing in the distance while the rumbling clouds above echoed behind her.