Work Text:
Tsuki watches as Nika paces the room, his arms folded behind his back and the golden ink across his skin sparkling in the candle light. He sighs as he looks back down at the map across the table, their forces are being pushed back. Every day they were getting more messengers with news of retreat and casualties.
He looks over at the chest against the wall, the silver lock gleaming in the light, he could no longer count with his fingers how many of their friends had been killed. Their essences now sealed inside fruits, a temptation for any mortal to take a god's power as their own and damn the cost.
"We're loosing too many men, Nika," Tsuki repeats, holding the furious red eyes that glare at him. He gestures to the map, "He's already taken three more islands, the mortals are now turning to him just so that they won't be killed on the streets. I think it's time."
"No," Nika growls, his white curls swirling off his head and a crack of thunder sounding above the castle. "I refuse to win that way! We haven't even tried the east or heard from the west, there could be more…"
"No one else is coming," Tsuki says evenly, sitting down heavily in his chair. He scrubs a hand across his eyes, "They've already surrendered, without raising a single sword, after they heard about Tenki's death… they decided it wasn't worth it to fight against him anymore."
Nika looks over at the chest, the thunder stopping and his hair dropping across his forehead, "I still can't believe she's gone, Tsuki."
"Me neither, but she is," Tsuki says gently, a memory of a bright smile, cheerful laugh, and wild orange hair coming to his mind. "It's a sacrifice but one I'm more than willing to pay if it means that we save what's left of the world. You know what he'd do if he won, he's boasted of it more than once. Erasing history, creating his own government, keeping those that would rise up enslaved, and hording all the power for himself. He's pure evil and right now he's winning."
Nika sighs, placing a hand over his face in defeat, "There's still a cost."
"There's always a cost in war," Tsuki says, pulling a sheet of paper towards him to start writing the commands for the troops as he sees the defeat on Nika's shoulders. "At least this cost will be minor, at least for the mortals."
"Not many gods left," Nika murmurs, moving to sit down in his chair, placing his elbows on the table and folding his hands under his chin. His red eyes swim as he looks at Tsuki, "Do you think it'll work?"
Tsuki looks up at him, he gives him a firm nod, "He can't have our power if he can't find it and the only way he'd be able to find it is if…"
Nika nods, leaning back in his chair, resolve settling over his features, "Disband the troops, we'll leave in the morning."
Tsuki nods and goes back to his letter for their generals, there's a chill in the air despite the window being closed, as if the very dust knew what they were about to do.
Tsuki stands on the wet sand, the ocean lapping at his ankles as he watches Nika fly between the trees to spread the fruits across them, a fog following his every glide around the trunks. He raises his arms and feels the island shutter as it's anchor to the ocean breaks, at his will the ocean pushes the island out to sea, breaking it's magnetic field.
His power falters the further he pushes the island away from all others, but he doesn't stop. He pushes until he can't feel any island near them, the ocean stops and an anchor starts to be rebuilt. With one last grasp of his power, Tsuki breaks the magnetic field of the island before it can heal itself.
The island screams at him, the ocean swirls in anger, the forces of nature turn against him as he falls to his knees. He gasps as the remaining fragment of his power over the moon and ocean get ripped away from him, his duty to remain unbiased and keep the balance broken. Only his healing remains and the ocean's grip on his ankles threatens to drag him down to her depth for his betrayal, only for Nika's warm grip dragging him onto shore.
"It's done," Tsuki pants, choking back a sob at the hole in his chest, he waves off Nika from comforting him. "We don't have time, do it."
Nika stands to his feet, he raises his hands and pulls the clouds to shroud the island, "Hear my words and obey, miracle fruits of ancient times come to me and lay yourself on these trees. This shall be your home and when one of you is born you shall come to rest in these trees."
Tsuki raises his head as he hears the sing of objects flying through the air, fruit after fruit come onto the island and attaching to the trees across the island.
Nika turns to the island after the last fruit roots its stem onto a nearby tree, he kneels down and presses a hand into the black sand, "Hear my words and obey, all who step on this island to steal the miracle fruits are hereby cursed. The sea will reject any who eats of the powers of these fruits and those that hunger for more than one and devour to attain more power than their due shall be destroyed."
The island shudders as the power gets imbued across its roots, the fruits scream in protest but what's done is done and cannot be undone.
Nika slumps as the power drains from him, he looks over at Tsuki and crawls to his side when he gives him a nod.
"Finish it," Tsuki whispers, taking Nika's hands and holding tight as he leans his forehead against his. "I love you, my sun, I hope we get to see each other again in the next life."
"I love you, my moon, I will see you again," Nika whispers, his hands trembling as he clings to him. "Here my words and obey, the wills of Nika and Tsuki are thus; our power to become fruits and our wills joined to grant the power above all else. We become one. We are one. The One Piece."
The last thing that Tsuki's feels before the world goes dark is Nika's warm lips against his. The world shatters and the island vanishes as a dark entity screams in rage.