[Legend of Sun Knight] fic: Bittersweet Sweetness Part 11
Title: Bittersweet Sweetness Part 11
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 1,498
Summary: Instead of receiving a brooch that dresses him in an assassin's clothes, Sun receives a trinket that switches his consciousness around with Judgment's. Now, Judgment must find out the mystery behind the Death Knight in Sun's stead. Problem is, imitating Sun's poor swordsmanship is no easy feat, and who knew what Sun was doing with Judgment's body in the meantime? Alternate telling of the end of volume 1 of the novels.
Notes: Some notes at the end. ;)
Previous Part
Part 11 - Judgment
Even though I was tired, we talked late into the night to make sure we had our stories straight, and I finally asked him about Roland. His eyes gained a faraway look, his voice a wistful tone. He told me about how they had met all those years ago during the selection for the next Sun Knight, and how Roland had been the top candidate at the time, just like I had been the top candidate for the Judgment Knight. Back then, practically no one had thought Grisia would become the Sun Knight, Grisia himself included. He stared at me as he spoke, hand reaching out to grasp a strand of golden hair.
"Your golden hair isn't what made your teacher pick you," I said, hand resting on Grisia's reassuringly, but even though Grisia shot me a grateful look, I could tell he didn't believe me. He let the strands of golden hair slip through his fingers and busied his hands with something else.
He continued to tell me about Roland, about how they had easily become friends because they had never considered each other competitors. I had no such friend among the Judgment Knight candidates, as we had all treated each other as opponents to be defeated. Roland, however, had looked after Grisia in much the same way I was currently "looking after" Grisia.
It made me want to sit down and have a cup of tea with Roland to discuss our many hardships with dealing with Grisia. If Roland hadn't died, I might have gotten along with him very well from what I was currently learning about him.
When Grisia told me about how impressive Roland's swordsmanship had been even back then, I nodded because I had experienced it myself during my duel with him. The way he moved with the sword was not something anyone could achieve without diligent practice coupled with a natural gift for wielding a sword. When Grisia told me about Roland's seriousness and kindness, I thought back to how Roland had agreed to fighting with me one-on-one, and how disappointed he had been when we were not allowed to finish. Even from my limited interaction with him, I could tell he was honorable. It was a pity and an abomination that he had to die so young in such a way, and it was cruel that he was still not allowed to rest despite his death.
Hearing about Roland only made me even more aware of how difficult the current situation must be for Grisia. I outlined to him what I planned to do, and he grudgingly explained to me his plans, though I doubted he was completely forthright with me. I was so deeply engrossed in our discussion that I didn't pay attention to what Grisia was doing with his hands -- after all, he'd occupied himself with washing his clothes just before this -- until he plopped a bowl of lavender-scented...green goop in front of me.
"Lesus," he said in a very serious tone, face impassive. With such a look and such a tone, I almost thought I was looking at my teacher, the previous Judgment Knight, until he continued to speak. The following wasn't something my teacher would ever care about. "You must have been outside for too long. You're so dark now."
"You're speaking nonsense," I said right away. "I had on a hood almost the entire time, and the sun had long gone down before I even stepped foot outside."
All I got in response was a super long explanation about spreading the lavender-scented goop over my face, my neck, and all over my body. I was then supposed to steam myself in front of the fire and scrape it all off after a certain length of time.
"Can't this wait until we switch back?" I asked, my voice faint. The entire process sounded like it was going to take a lot of time. If Grisia had time to do this every night, he should have plenty of time to look at paperwork while he "steamed" himself. Without any paperwork to do, I might fall asleep with the whitening mask still on my skin, making me look like a green monster with golden hair... not even decaying zombies would look as terrifying.
"No! How can the Sun Knight not be fair-skinned? I can't have you go around looking like that! If a skin-whitening mask isn't applied every single night for an entire week, my skin will be unsalvageable!" His voice grew louder and louder as he expressed his strong opinions about the necessity of daily skin care. He was probably speaking loudly enough for anyone walking past this room to hear the Judgment Knight's deep voice extolling the virtues of mixing soured milk with lemon, roses, flour, and lavender to make the most effective body mask.
I doubted anyone would believe they were hearing correctly.
"Are you sure you want my hands all over your body?" I finally asked.
He'd only blanched for a second before he started sputtering. "You'd need to bathe anyway! I refuse to let you become a stinky knight! That's not acceptable either!"
He had a point, and I did smell, so I mutely accepted the bowl. I wanted to sigh, however, when Grisia instructed me not to coat the body mask onto his "important area". He'd actually flushed red when he said that, and even muttered under his breath about how terrible his teacher had been to forget to warn him.
I'd learned a lot about Grisia just from being him for less than a day, but this was too much information. I'd thought this many times since I was chosen as the Judgment Knight, but I'm glad my teacher was responsible and dependable and that I had not landed myself with Grisia's teacher despite his strong swordsmanship. Taking lessons in the art of skin-whitening was out of my forte.
Grisia was all too happy when I told him to go to my room to bring my paperwork over. I would for sure fall asleep if I had nothing to do while I waited for the body mask to dry. When Grisia left, I made use of his bath, the warm water soothing and relaxing me. I washed the grime off, something I should have done right from the start. Sun's long hair gave me the most difficulty, and it was heavy once wet. I lathered shampoo into it, arms tired from all the sword wielding I had done. He truly did not have the right muscles. Had he been training at all?
As I washed, I felt the area just above my stomach tingle. My muscles there felt warm, as if something was burning inside of me. Sun's holy magic fluctuated, spiking and then settling down. Was his body battling the dark aura from Roland's sword? Ice hadn't been able to get out of bed when he'd been injured by the same sword, but here I was, still capable of taking a bath.
When Grisia came back with my paperwork, I had just finished toweling myself dry. He looked like he had taken a quick bath too, his hair still damp.
We got to work soon after that, with him working on my paperwork -- I refused to go through his skin-whitening routine if he didn't do any paperwork -- while I applied the lavender-scented mask over my skin, towel around my waist. The scene should have been normal enough for us, but it felt decisively strange that I was the one lathering a lavender scented substance over my body while Grisia was actually diligently doing paperwork.
Once I finished applying the body mask and the substance dried enough that it wasn't sliding down my skin, I took one of the documents and started correcting it.
All the while, Grisia kept glancing at the door.
"What?" I asked him after he glanced at the door yet again.
"Shh!" he said. "I'm waiting for the curse to happen."
Curse?
"Someone always disturbs me when I apply my masks! It's a curse, I tell you! A curse that makes me have to scrape off my masks before I'm done steaming, making me waste my precious, expensive materials..."
"Just focus on the paperwork already," I said.
"What, you don't believe me?"
I rolled my eyes at him and continued correcting my paperwork. After I finished my half, I waited until Grisia finished his. He took a long time, his attention more focused on the door than on the papers in his hand. When he finally finished, it was also time for me to scrape the lavender-scented, green substance off my skin.
The entire time, no one had come to the door.
"The God of Light is harsh tonight," muttered Grisia. "Making me into a liar..."
I shook my head at him in exasperation and shooed him out of the room so that I could finally sleep.
It had been a long, tiring day.
-----
to be continued
Tense troubles! Or else this would already be the next day, with a long flashback and less detail about showers... I planned on skipping all that since that's too much information! XD; *moves things around*
And so ends Day 1. That took... a lot of words. XD;
Next Part
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 1,498
Summary: Instead of receiving a brooch that dresses him in an assassin's clothes, Sun receives a trinket that switches his consciousness around with Judgment's. Now, Judgment must find out the mystery behind the Death Knight in Sun's stead. Problem is, imitating Sun's poor swordsmanship is no easy feat, and who knew what Sun was doing with Judgment's body in the meantime? Alternate telling of the end of volume 1 of the novels.
Notes: Some notes at the end. ;)
Previous Part
Part 11 - Judgment
Even though I was tired, we talked late into the night to make sure we had our stories straight, and I finally asked him about Roland. His eyes gained a faraway look, his voice a wistful tone. He told me about how they had met all those years ago during the selection for the next Sun Knight, and how Roland had been the top candidate at the time, just like I had been the top candidate for the Judgment Knight. Back then, practically no one had thought Grisia would become the Sun Knight, Grisia himself included. He stared at me as he spoke, hand reaching out to grasp a strand of golden hair.
"Your golden hair isn't what made your teacher pick you," I said, hand resting on Grisia's reassuringly, but even though Grisia shot me a grateful look, I could tell he didn't believe me. He let the strands of golden hair slip through his fingers and busied his hands with something else.
He continued to tell me about Roland, about how they had easily become friends because they had never considered each other competitors. I had no such friend among the Judgment Knight candidates, as we had all treated each other as opponents to be defeated. Roland, however, had looked after Grisia in much the same way I was currently "looking after" Grisia.
It made me want to sit down and have a cup of tea with Roland to discuss our many hardships with dealing with Grisia. If Roland hadn't died, I might have gotten along with him very well from what I was currently learning about him.
When Grisia told me about how impressive Roland's swordsmanship had been even back then, I nodded because I had experienced it myself during my duel with him. The way he moved with the sword was not something anyone could achieve without diligent practice coupled with a natural gift for wielding a sword. When Grisia told me about Roland's seriousness and kindness, I thought back to how Roland had agreed to fighting with me one-on-one, and how disappointed he had been when we were not allowed to finish. Even from my limited interaction with him, I could tell he was honorable. It was a pity and an abomination that he had to die so young in such a way, and it was cruel that he was still not allowed to rest despite his death.
Hearing about Roland only made me even more aware of how difficult the current situation must be for Grisia. I outlined to him what I planned to do, and he grudgingly explained to me his plans, though I doubted he was completely forthright with me. I was so deeply engrossed in our discussion that I didn't pay attention to what Grisia was doing with his hands -- after all, he'd occupied himself with washing his clothes just before this -- until he plopped a bowl of lavender-scented...green goop in front of me.
"Lesus," he said in a very serious tone, face impassive. With such a look and such a tone, I almost thought I was looking at my teacher, the previous Judgment Knight, until he continued to speak. The following wasn't something my teacher would ever care about. "You must have been outside for too long. You're so dark now."
"You're speaking nonsense," I said right away. "I had on a hood almost the entire time, and the sun had long gone down before I even stepped foot outside."
All I got in response was a super long explanation about spreading the lavender-scented goop over my face, my neck, and all over my body. I was then supposed to steam myself in front of the fire and scrape it all off after a certain length of time.
"Can't this wait until we switch back?" I asked, my voice faint. The entire process sounded like it was going to take a lot of time. If Grisia had time to do this every night, he should have plenty of time to look at paperwork while he "steamed" himself. Without any paperwork to do, I might fall asleep with the whitening mask still on my skin, making me look like a green monster with golden hair... not even decaying zombies would look as terrifying.
"No! How can the Sun Knight not be fair-skinned? I can't have you go around looking like that! If a skin-whitening mask isn't applied every single night for an entire week, my skin will be unsalvageable!" His voice grew louder and louder as he expressed his strong opinions about the necessity of daily skin care. He was probably speaking loudly enough for anyone walking past this room to hear the Judgment Knight's deep voice extolling the virtues of mixing soured milk with lemon, roses, flour, and lavender to make the most effective body mask.
I doubted anyone would believe they were hearing correctly.
"Are you sure you want my hands all over your body?" I finally asked.
He'd only blanched for a second before he started sputtering. "You'd need to bathe anyway! I refuse to let you become a stinky knight! That's not acceptable either!"
He had a point, and I did smell, so I mutely accepted the bowl. I wanted to sigh, however, when Grisia instructed me not to coat the body mask onto his "important area". He'd actually flushed red when he said that, and even muttered under his breath about how terrible his teacher had been to forget to warn him.
I'd learned a lot about Grisia just from being him for less than a day, but this was too much information. I'd thought this many times since I was chosen as the Judgment Knight, but I'm glad my teacher was responsible and dependable and that I had not landed myself with Grisia's teacher despite his strong swordsmanship. Taking lessons in the art of skin-whitening was out of my forte.
Grisia was all too happy when I told him to go to my room to bring my paperwork over. I would for sure fall asleep if I had nothing to do while I waited for the body mask to dry. When Grisia left, I made use of his bath, the warm water soothing and relaxing me. I washed the grime off, something I should have done right from the start. Sun's long hair gave me the most difficulty, and it was heavy once wet. I lathered shampoo into it, arms tired from all the sword wielding I had done. He truly did not have the right muscles. Had he been training at all?
As I washed, I felt the area just above my stomach tingle. My muscles there felt warm, as if something was burning inside of me. Sun's holy magic fluctuated, spiking and then settling down. Was his body battling the dark aura from Roland's sword? Ice hadn't been able to get out of bed when he'd been injured by the same sword, but here I was, still capable of taking a bath.
When Grisia came back with my paperwork, I had just finished toweling myself dry. He looked like he had taken a quick bath too, his hair still damp.
We got to work soon after that, with him working on my paperwork -- I refused to go through his skin-whitening routine if he didn't do any paperwork -- while I applied the lavender-scented mask over my skin, towel around my waist. The scene should have been normal enough for us, but it felt decisively strange that I was the one lathering a lavender scented substance over my body while Grisia was actually diligently doing paperwork.
Once I finished applying the body mask and the substance dried enough that it wasn't sliding down my skin, I took one of the documents and started correcting it.
All the while, Grisia kept glancing at the door.
"What?" I asked him after he glanced at the door yet again.
"Shh!" he said. "I'm waiting for the curse to happen."
Curse?
"Someone always disturbs me when I apply my masks! It's a curse, I tell you! A curse that makes me have to scrape off my masks before I'm done steaming, making me waste my precious, expensive materials..."
"Just focus on the paperwork already," I said.
"What, you don't believe me?"
I rolled my eyes at him and continued correcting my paperwork. After I finished my half, I waited until Grisia finished his. He took a long time, his attention more focused on the door than on the papers in his hand. When he finally finished, it was also time for me to scrape the lavender-scented, green substance off my skin.
The entire time, no one had come to the door.
"The God of Light is harsh tonight," muttered Grisia. "Making me into a liar..."
I shook my head at him in exasperation and shooed him out of the room so that I could finally sleep.
It had been a long, tiring day.
-----
to be continued
Tense troubles! Or else this would already be the next day, with a long flashback and less detail about showers... I planned on skipping all that since that's too much information! XD; *moves things around*
And so ends Day 1. That took... a lot of words. XD;
Next Part