#whiskey.hayato.tyl

[sovereigntism]

[ @whiskeysmulti from x.]

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King didn't cower from his shout, crimson red overlapped with the natural plush red pink that his rough voice exuded to her mind. The alarm of crimson scarring over the normal spill of his voice in her vision. Instead she bared her teeth and stood as tall as she could, eyes glaring at him.

"Don't-!" underestimate me!

The words died on their tongue, their brain finally processing his words. The crimson red falling away to reveal his natural tone, and bringing a sense of comfort from the concern in it. Though they tried to sound mad, and angry, their voice did crack at the end, breaking off as the realization that they shouldn't be so numb to the potential of their own death. King processed his statement, hearing and recognizing the concern, and frowned even more. They made a quick tsk noise, nose scrunching, and sighed like they were about to say something they hadn't wanted to but should, in fact, be said.

"... Thank you for caring." Someone should, if I'm forgetting how to.

Their eyes darted off, hearing something, and they lifted their sword up to his shoulder, fast- and a sharp ting sound echoed near him- off of the blade as a bullet bounced away, casting sparks from the metals clashing. It was just a stray bullet, but it could've done some genuine damage.

"Don't prioritize my life over you and yours though, you're important."

The unsaid notion of King being unimportant was left to the air as King moved to step from their sheltered spot, intending to go back into the fight. King didn't consider themself a good person, but fighting for the Vongola 10th and his people was always a good thing in this world. They were rarely in the wrong when it came down to it. And even if they were, so what? They were important. So defending them with her life... that was a given.

[sovereigntism]

King stared at him, watching him put away his weapons. King reached over now that it was safe, and grabbed up the gun from the fallen enemy. Examining it, while keeping it pointed down and their finger off the trigger, they made sure the safety was on, and the hammer wasn't engaged.

"... I'm the same now as I was every time you've seen me. If anything I'm probably healthier right now because I was at home before this. Mama always tries to feed me a lot when I'm home because she knows I don't get a lot of constant meals when traveling."

King pocketed the gun, sliding it into her belt once it was deemed safe, and the safety was secure. They started to gather up their things back into their backpack and stared at the broken mirror for a moment before carefully picking it up and wrapping up the broken shards securely and stashing them in the bag too. They didn't want to leave broken glass out for a person or animal to get injured on, even in a war.

"... Anyway, no. I'm not here because of the bazooka. Though... Maybe I should have been? ... No, if I did get hit with the bazooka everyone would panic back at T-Y-E... After all, nothing appearing terrified Sawada-san last time it happened, right? I don't want that to happen to them again."

King mumbled to herself for a moment, muttering about annoying broken things, timelines, and traveling. They didn't bother telling anyone exactly how many battles they've fought in, or how many wars they've served in, or how many deaths they've experienced. It was just too much, and sometimes, they just wanted to be a person, not some hero.

"I'm an UMA, remember? I don't exist the same as everyone else..." Wait. Did I tell younger him that yet? No? Shit... "Uh... Maybe you don't know yet. Uhmm... I can explain but it'll sound crazy? And I'd rather explain at a safer place than a currently quiet battlefield."

"Forgive me, King. I haven't seen you in a while and the last time I recall, you were still just a skinny kid with no fighting experience." The last he'd seen them, they were both teenagers as far as he remembered. Still thirty battles was nothing compared to entire wars.

He put the flame arrow away and closed his Storm box, no need to keep a weapon out as an even heavier target when he already walked around with one on his back as it was. Gokudera wasn't the feared Vongola Right Hand for nothing.

"There were roughly ten, not too big a battle, but stressful when they're stronger than you." He took out a cigarette and lit it, "They should be gone now, you're safe. But I'm curious, how did you get here? Was Ahoshi pissed off and grabbed the bazooka because of my younger self again?"

[sovereigntism]

"Sc-Scrawny?!"

The yelp wasn't intended, but they did look incredibly offended, scowling at him as he took the shot that they detailed to him.

"Pardon me for not showing off in front of you before, didn't think you'd hold it against me! I am anything but scrawny! I quite like my body thank you..!"

King was more offended at being called scrawny than they were being called a kid. Being a kid to him was another thing all together. Seeing as they were younger than him here...

"I've always known how to fight, Gokudera-san. I think it is my..." Fingers lifted and trailed off over 5, 10, 15, the count seemed to go on before King closed their hands and shrugged, "over 30th time in a battle like this. Perhaps more. Detailing enemy locations was always the best way to aid my allies if I didn't have a ranged weapon and couldn't reach one."

King glanced around for any other enemies, blue eyes darting to the gun on the ground, considering risking it to grab it. Black hair fluttering from their face as they turned, the wind picking up around them.

"How many enemies were you fighting? Are they all gone now, or do we have more?"

Gokudera was a ranged fighter, but could handle hand to hand combat if he needed to. However he wasn't sure what type of fighting style King had. The last he'd seen them, if this was the person he remembered, he thought they were a civilian.

"King? The same scrawny kid I met before?!" He focused his energy into the Flame Arrow and aimed a line of Storm flame directly at the enemy.

"Got it. When did you learn to fight like this?"

[sovereigntism]

He looked older. Older than he usually did. ... They frowned a little at his demand to stay with him. This must be the future, the blatant usage of flames all around had them annoyed they still weren't sure of their own flame type. A scowl curled their lips at no joke as if King ever took fighting as a joke. ... Well, maybe sometimes, but not an actual fight! Just ones between friends..! King's fingers tightened around the sword in their hands and they huffed, stepping away from him but staying behind their shelter from the fire fight.

If I could just borrow me one of those fancy skull rings, I wouldn't hold anyone back...

King glanced around, blue eyes darting up at the surrounding areas, too many places for enemies to hide. King assumed asking him to give up one of his rings would be a futile effort. Either he couldn't or he wouldn't give them up, either way it'd be dumb to ask. Unoccupied hand reached out for an abandoned gun nearby. A bullet fired, and they were flinching back as a flame coated bullet shot a little too close to their outstretched hand.

"Fucking-!! I hate war riddled timelines! ... Ugh-! I'm King, if knowing my name matters to you."

They shook their own hand as if shaking off a feeling of pain. They were uninjured- the motion was mostly to 'shake off the annoyance' of it, gripping the sword hilt tighter in their left hand. They shook their shoulders, adjusting for the backpack and grabbing something out of it, it was a small mirror, they then dug in the bag and pulled out a number of items, fashioning a way to hold the mirror out without sticking their hand out in the line of fire.

"We've got a sniper focused on our spot. ... I'll see if I can spot them with this."

King peered into the reflected mirror, slowly turning it, careful to not get the sniper's attention. Luckily for them, and unluckily for their sniper- King spotted them just as the mirror was shattered by a bullet.

"Looked like 70 yards to the..." A pause, glance up looking for the sun, and then continuing after looking back at him, "west, in the office looking building. 8th window up, 3rd from the left." The sun is right behind the building, so the enemy chose a strategic position for this time of day... "I presume you can do something with that knowledge?" If he couldn't, there was no telling if King would stay put as he asked.

He recognized so much of his younger self in her that it made him sick. Just another street rat ready to throw it all away in a split second. He'd never needed a reason to live, he'd never had one before, he'd been looking for a good reason to die half of his life though and now King was in the same position.

A dead eyed stare and no regards for your own safety, her recklessness was a mirror to his own and now Gokudera was witnessing firsthand how easily he probably pissed off the others when he was younger.

What was with the cocky attitude from her though? Don't prioritize her life over his? Not gonna happen, he'd get everyone out of there safely even if he had to be left behind.

"Just stay with me, these guys are no joke."