Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Gods

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They used to say that Gods ruled the world, and under their grace and love, humans live happily, without any worry…

Oh how wrong they were.

A War…

A celestial being from up above, higher than the Gods, it was rumored that they were a “Sustainer of Heavenly Principles”

They sent out a curse upon the land.

Monsters and beasts were made out of the dirt and the dead were infused with a power never seen before. The once safe home was no more. The humans tried to fight back against these beings, but their strength alone wasn't enough to kill these creatures. These beasts were huge and extremely dangerous. Some could fly, some could move faster than light, and some had some type of power that, at the time, only belonged to the gods.

So to combat this, the Gods give humanity a gift… a fighting chance.

A fraction of the power of the gods is now in humanity's hands.

But, the Gods couldn't give them to anyone, oh no, no. The Gods only give this gift to people with certain admirations, no one knew what was needed to get this gift. 

Only a few people got these gifts. It was a mark, a mark colored with the power that one of the 7 Gods had:

Geo, unmoving as the earth

Pyro, a burning passion 

Anemo, a breeze of the freed

Cryo, a cold desire lock away

Electro, illuminating a different view 

Dendro, a blooming knowledge 

Hydro, tears of those who protect

It was so one-sided that those who didn’t have this gift nearly died in the battle against the monsters, and those who did tried their best to protect the rest. Nearly dying from the injustice that fell upon them. Better weapons and greater energy were needed, unfortunately, a few can heal.

So? They started to plan out what worked and what didn’t, and over time they realized that the elements had reactions with each other. They found better materials for weapons and better ways to save energy. For a moment they had the upper hand. With this new knowledge, they were able to fight better, kill those being of destruction

Now… What about the Gods?

It’s unknown what happened to them, some say they abandoned their people, others say that they died in war. Nothing is known about these “Gods”, were they real? Or just like other gods, just myths?

If you asked me, they were real…

And alive…

Even years later, they remained among us… among their people, rebuilding what was once theirs.

As the world around them changed, so did they, the people who were alive during the war slowly withering away, as their young grow up, and the cycle repeated.

The gods decided to keep their people together, as the world grew darker and darker. With so little in numbers, they all lived to survive and protect their own.

Call them selfless but they only care for their own, and not for the humans born outside, sure, there were two gods who cared a bit to help those humans. But usually, they were mere children, who could be easily influenced.

The Gods learned that few of these… human beings had powers, abilities with a name, with an unknown origin. 

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A boy was sitting on the ground of the library reading an old book. The boy found the book one day, the book was filled with poems and stories though they were short, and he liked them. The one he liked most is… what was it… was it…

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K̶̢̨̛͍͍̲̻͗̓a̵̡̙̩͖͎̬̼͉̞̝̺͕̙̱̿̿̒̀̈́͂͋͂̃̅͊̕͜͠ͅz̸̡̢̥̩̟̮̭͎̲͈̣̃̈́͌̇͋̔͋̌̓͝͝͝͠e̴̡̛͎͓̳̰̖̞̤͙͖͕̪̤̔̈́͋͗͒̅̀̅̀͆̒̿̚,̸̟͖̺̝̤͕̯̮̗̤͎͔̯͊͗́͜͝ ̸̨̖̼̥̯͔̦̋̏̓̈́̊́̑Y̸̻̮̙͚̜͒̇̿̎́̇̈́̕͘ư̶̖͕̰̩͎̖̫̥͚͚̣̊́̃̆͆̈́̽̎͂̍̃͊͠ų̶̨̫̥̩͈̲̻͍̩̔̀̚͜k̵̳̯̻̣̓͊͋̿̔͛͆͑͒̚͠͝ĭ̷͓̙͍̤̮̹͍̪̳̰̭̓́̀͊̾̇̽͝ ̷̢̡͈̘̝͉͙̖͔̣͋́̎͛͆̀̈͘͝t̷͉̭̻̘̜̘̲͚̪̠̹͎̞͋͗̀͒́̽̉͠ö̶̩̤̞͕̼͍̻̻̟̜͎̞̙́̆̓̓̇̊̄͒̽̋͆̐͂͝͝ ̷̹̖̭̎̇́T̸̡͍̯̮͓̯̹͈̼͎̝̔̈͌ṣ̴͎͎̈̿́͐̕͠͠ͅų̵̻̳̺͔̘̖̣̫͒͋̅͑̍̑̾͗̒͝͝͝ͅb̵̙͈́͑̉̓͋̈́̆͋͑͗̾a̷̡̢̼̮͓̦̠͌̈̚͜͝͝s̷̡̨͈̰̲̥̼̥̩̻͎͍̙̔̏̊̀̍͌̍̓͐̐́̐̽͘̕͜͠ą̷̢̦̘̪̘͈̜͔̝̤̠̙̞̤̀̒͂͜

Chapter Text

Atsushi opens his closet door, to be greeted with a smell of food coming from the kitchen. With a little yawn, he says hi the the young girl, “Morning, Kyōka”

“Morning” Kyōka greeted her brother, as she was fixing the table. Since they were paired, Kyōka makes breakfast every morning, no matter the numerous times that Atsushi told her she didn’t have to, she still did. Mostly because she likes cooking for him, plus she can see that he tries to buy her many things, so this is just a small thing to pay him back for being with her.

So, that is how their day off began, both of them eating, in silence for the most part. Talking from time to time, mostly about missions from the other day.

Then a notification popped up on Atsushi’s phone, it was the President. 

Weird, Atsushi thought, the President rarely sends a message in the group chat that Dazai made one day. He opens it:

President:

An urgent meeting is about to convene and I need all of you at 8 am

Yes, even you, Dazai, at the agency now

Deadzai:

man… didn’t even let me say ಠ︵ಠ

Daddy:

How urgent is it, President?

DAZAI

WHAT THE FUCK IS MY NAME

Deadzai:

Oops ( ╹▽╹ )

Atsushi just sighs, putting the phone down and looking up at Kyōka. “Apparently...there is an urgent meeting, I wonder what's that about”

Kyōka hummed… “Don't you think it's about the killing?”

“Maybe”

Atsushi say, it started a few weeks ago, family members of the government’s members were disappearing only to be died 1-2 days later. People say it's the Port Mafia, but recording to them, they didn't do this. Even they are looking for who is responsible, after all, few of the victims were Mafia members. 

And they aren't happy about that…

°•°•°•°•°•

Later…

Atsushi opened the meeting door for Kyōka, and as they entered, they saw some of their colleagues already sitting down. Both of them sat next to each other, to Atsushi's left was Jun'ichirō.

"Oh hey, Atsushi," Jun'ichirō greeted the boy. 

"Heya," Atsushi replied, "did you sleep well?"

"No, but I sleep enough"

“Naomi?”

“...ya”

They continued to talk as they waited for the rest of their co-workers to come, mostly Dazai though. That man wouldn’t be on time unless it was for his death, “You good for nothing, made us come late”

Atsushi looked back to see both of his mentors, Kunkida dragging Dazai in like every other meeting. The rest giggled a bit at the scene in front of them.

The door opened and it was the President, they all quickly sat up “President!”

He signaled them to sit down, which they did, “I apologized for the early meeting and for some of your days off” Haruno set the projector. “As some of you know there were been few murders, apparently they were family members of officials and government workers, first they thought it was a Port Mafia, but none of the murders had PM MO, so they are out of the question”

“So,” they turn to Yosano “It’s a random gang?”

“No”

The voice was from Ranpo, with his feet up on the table and eating chips… at 8 in the morning…

Dazai raised a brow, “Oh? As the great Ranpo finger it out now?”

“I have figured out that the group is not a new gang, the government has something they want back, plus this group was also responsible for the disappearances of antique artifacts a few months ago” Ranpo frowned, he had suspicions about who but no matter what the clues and details are always changing.

Like if they knew what they were doing, “From what I can conclude is that this is a big group, probably as big as the PM but it seems that they are all split into different groups.”  Ranpo finished.

“Great, ours wanted thefts upgraded to wanted murders” Yosano faked her excitement

Haruno then changed sides, and the President spoke again “One thing that was common with the kills was these”. The side had case pictures of the body

It looks like it was stabbed and hit…no bullet wound though… but that wasn’t the weirdest thing, there was teal winged marking around the bodies.

“According to the up topsy, they are still alive but they aren't breathing”

“WAIT”

“Huh?”

The President just closed his eyes, while he listened to his employees questioning this, “Sorry, President but are you sure that they are still alive?” Jun'ichirō asked

“Ya they look…well” Atsushi pause

“Like a dry-up vegetables,” Kyōka added

The President nodded “I understand this is confusing, but yes, they are still alive, it seems like the air is only going to the brain and not the rest of the body, we still do not know what it is, but we are suspecting that the marking could be the reason why they are still alive”

“What about the artifacts?” Kunikida asked as he looked over the papers

“It said that those were made by Gods for the people who possess some type of ability” The President answered

Ok, this is getting confused, Atsushi thought, “So what, these people are also religious?”

“No,” Dazai thought, “At least not fully, I read about those artifacts, it says that they hide a powerful power, however, you need at least 4 artifacts to unlock it, unfortunately, most are destroyed or lost”

“And no clues? Nothing?” Jun'ichirō asked, the President shook his head, “Nothing, just red herring or dead ends… and has our…. ‘Friends’... said anything?” the President asked Ranpo.

“Nothing…silent for the past 3 weeks”

“Friends?” Atsushi asked 

“An anonymous tipper…they sometimes send us info in some cases, somehow they know and their information is always helpful and accurate” Jun'ichirō answered Atsushi. 

“So what now?” Dazai asked, “Do you think that our ‘allies’ aren't our allies?”

Ranpo nodded “To be fair I never I never saw them as our allies,” he said as he sighed, “they could be behind the murders but we don't have much on them, not even a name”

“So we know who it is, just not who it is,” Kunkida said

Silence filled the room, they were all puzzled by this and the only two who could figure it out were also confused… just less…the President then dismissed them, but both Dazai and Ranpo stayed behind.

Dazai knows about anonymous tippers, after all, that was an early thing that he learned, and has seen what they send over. But when he tries to trace it back, it always seems that they are protected by something. Dazai then thought it would be an ability like Katai but wouldn’t his ability still work?

Dazai sighs, this seems like more work than what he wants.

“So do we just wait it out?” Dazai asked.

“Yes” Ranpo answered, they both knew that waiting was the best but keep an eye out after all. 

Dazai whined “Man, and here I thought I would be able to kill myself today… I guess that I have to wait” and he picked up the evidence, it was just about the murders. 

Ranpo just looked outside…he has a bad feeling about this.

Chapter Text

Dazai left early, the case was in his head all day, nothing about it made sense to him, and because of that, he didn’t do anything…not like he would have done it. Kunikida yelling at him wasn’t helping.

Walking around, he found himself near a bar, it looked simple but clearly, the style was different than the local ones. He heard from the hat rack that a new bar was open a few months back, he looked up to see the name

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Angel Share

Mh..strange name, Dazai thought, he went in. And when he went in he thought it would be like any other bar he went to, no, this bar was far more elegant than he thought. Honestly, it looked more like a restaurant than a bar.  Then he heard footsteps behind him, “Can I help you, sir?” and a smooth chilling voice called.

Dazai turned to see a hot man standing. He wore a waiter's outfit, but the top two buttons and a fur shawl over his right shoulder were not buttoned up. He had dark blue hair and an eye patch over his left eye. This man had a cold smirk.

“Ah yes, I heard from a dog that this is a good drinking place,” Dazai said as he smiled. “Dog? Mh? Well dogs don't often lie,” The man quickly got on, Dazai noticed it, then he laughed “Yup and I just got off my work so, I need a drink”

The waiter nodded “Alright sir, I can sit you right in front…Name?”

“Dazai”

The waiter then handed a card to the bartender “Opened tab” the waiter said. The bartender had hot red hair in a high ponytail, nodded “What would you want to start?” he had a slightly deeper voice than the waiter, “mh… what do you like to have, sir?”

Dazai thought it was clear that they had their drinks but… “Do you have whisky?”

The bartender nodded and started to serve it, as he was doing that Dazai looked around the bar. It had a European style to it, maybe the owner is from Europe, maybe french or german…

The bartender gave Dazai his drink, and Dazai took a slip… “Thanks…sorry what is your name”

The bartender raises his eyebrow, “Diluc” 

Diluc huh? Dazai thought, “Ah, not from there, I suppose?” Diluc’s expression didn’t change, he stared at Dazai “Yes, came from Germany” he said coldly. So cold, Dazai though.

“Greetings, my friend, how about you raise your glass,” Dazai jumped and quickly turned next to him to see a boy…how did I not notice him? He thought the boy had a drink in hand “Let troubles be far, sip and savor, a night to embrace, may laughter and cheer fill this sacred space” for a Dazai stared at him, but recovered.

“Hello,” Dazai noticed how young he looked but he knew better than to judge, after all, he also started drinking young “inexpensive with that rhyming”

The boy had black hair with two small braids on the front of his face and a green cape with a white flower, “What can I say, I'm skilled in prose, mastered literature”

“Thought you majored in music?” Dulic said unimpressed, “That too,” said the boy smiled grabbed the bottle of wine, and started drinking it “Name’s Venti, a pleasure to meet you”

Venti?... and no last name?

“Aren’t you the popular singer in Germany? What brings you here” Dazai asked

Venti giggled “Ehe~ Yup, you see~ Master Dulic is a dear friend of mine, and he kindly requested me to accompany him here and who am I to say no?”

Dazai smirks, the boy can rhyme, “Aw~ what a nice friend you got here, Master Dulic ” he mocks

Dulic sighs “First of all, you begged me to let you come-”

“OH oh~ Master Dulic that sounds a bit suggestive, didn’t know we had that kind of relationship” Venti teased and Dazai laughed a bit

“-AND SECOND, your time is about to start, so go and do your one job” Dulic gave Venti a cold stare, and the young boy nervously laughed.

Then he turned to Dazai, “Apologies, but I must go, got a performance to show.”

°•°•°•°•°•

“Ehe~ Hello everyone” Venti sings “let's come together, no matter who we are; we'll spread some cheer and take a bow; welcome one and all, for the performance starts now!”

“Let's ignite this night with a fresh harmony,” the room then goes dark, only Venti has the light on him, and the singer also looks angelic. What seemed like a piano started to play.

“ The day

I woken up from a dream

A glorious kingdom, I see~

Light up underland…”

Oh? Dazai thought this sounded like a story, the boy moved here and there, not by much but still acted out what the song was about.

“... Glowing from people's eyes

Is interweaving with machine’s ray

The day

I wondering around… ”

Dazai then got the sense that the song had another meaning but didn’t know what, “Really? That song?” the redhead said, the just waiter laughed.

“What’s wrong with this song?” Dazai asked

Kaeya shook his head, “Nothing much, just-”

“It’s an old story” Dulic answered, “back home, there was a legend that an ancient nation that got destroyed by gods by simply exciting- or something like that”

Dazai was in deep thought, he had read books from other countries but he hadn’t heard a story like that. “Sounds wild”

“But, Dulic~ it is one of his best songs, look people are always amazed by it” Keaya pointed out

“ Serenity seems to last forever

Doom as come~”

The lights turn to this scarlet red

“All the sudden

The wind the past is gone

They stain the land with crimson blood

Hearts are broken

Despair pervades this world

Does human arrogance earn the wrath?”

Dazai noticed that Venti looked up with a pleading look as if he was truly asking the question. 

Then he, himself, glances up then quickly back to his drink, he can agree, what did humans do to earn the wrath of these gods, it seems like this story is more than what it seems. He chuckled a bit as he rolled his eyes.

“He seems religious” Dazai commented 

“ Him ? Religious? Trust he is the least religious person ever to live, but then again, this is one of his best songs” Keaya says, “I think it's less about religion and more about the story…or his beautiful voice”

“ The day

The oracle descends

The withering kingdom, I hear

Weeping for remorse

The heroes know

What in the abyss lies

They step forward and never look back…”

Dazai is getting a weird feeling that this is more than just a song, “Do you know where I can get more information about this story?” he asked, "Sounds interesting"

The pair looked at him, as if he was crazy, “Most of the story is by word of mouth, I remember my dad used to tell this story, only a few ‘events’ are recorded” Dulic said with events being in quotations. "Ya, most if not all people from back home don't know that original story and the few people who know the few details, just don't believe in it" Keaya added.

Dazai hummed, as he thought. "And you? Do you believe it?" Dulic just stayed quiet while Keaya just shrugged.

The intense music calmed down for a moment, for a piano and a violin playing.

“ Doom has come

All of a sudden

Legend stands aligned~

Defend the land with crimson blood

Shatter the sky

We have to save this world

Has God abandoned us ever and ever?...”

“The people try to fight back, didn’t they”

Dulic stopped and looked up, to see that Dazai had the most blankest face. Dulic then glanced at his friend on stage… “Ya… far as I know, they fought to the end…most of them died,” he said as he was mixing some drinks

Dazai was in deep thought, thinking about the stolen artifacts, he looked up info about them. They are not that important but the fact that they are somehow related to the Gods… and this story… this can’t be a coincidence? Can it?

“ The day

I woken up from a dream

The glorious kingdom, I leave

The day 

I set off on the way

A flourishing world, I see

Healing all the past~”

°•°•°•°•°•

Dazai clapped with the other people, after all, the boy had a talent. Talent… Dazai's mind was plagued with thoughts but he just smiled as the boy sat next to him

“Beautiful song, where did you learn that song” Dazai took his sip

“Oh, made the song, great isn't it?” Venti smiled as he praised himself  “Did you enjoy that performance?”

Dazai nodded, “Must say, that lovely voice you got there, I can see why many people like you” Venti laughed “Why thank you, what can I say? Born with talent”

“Yet you spend all that ‘talent’ by drinking yourself under the table,” The redhead said, Venti waved the comment off “Ehe~” is all that the young boy said.