Death of Kings

A/N: Am I kicked out of the Psycho-Pass fandom yet? I'm writing my first Akane/Kougami fic (and it's multi chap and angsty, yay!) so I hope I can do the characters justice :P Quick note, when I say gods of death, I mean in a Hades kind of way, like they are supposed to regulate the influx of souls in the human world. Meaning, bluntly, sometimes people have accidents (I'm a horrible person for writing this…) to keep the world at a happy medium. Anyway, sorry for the long rant, hope you guys like the prologue! I'll continue it if you guys would like to see more! Thanks again!

Disclaimer: You know the drill. I wish I owned Psycho-Pass.

-Isis

Chapter 1- Prologue

.

"Where men and angels fall…"

.

The newly-appointed detective hurried from her car towards the looming grey building. Rain poured mercilessly from the sky, drenching the brunette until she slipped through the front door, breathing heavily. Taking a minute to catch her breath, the hazel-eyed detective presented her badge to the woman behind the corner. The blonde put down her magazine to glance at the shivering brunette.

"Ah, you must be Akane Tsunemori. It's good to see another female member on the team! Usually it's just me and Yayoi-san. The rest of the team is already in the meeting room; just go down the hallway over there and it should be the first door on the right. Anyway, I'm the forensic scientist and also an analyst at times, Shion Karanomori. They have me manning the desk today since we don't have any active cases. Nice to meet you!" Shion reached a manicured hand over the counter, a bright smile on her crimson lips.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Karanomori-san." Akane shook her hand.

"Awww, sweetie, you don't have to be so formal! You can just call me Shion. Ok, Akane-chan?"

"A-alright, Shion-san. It was a pleasure meeting you." She bowed her head once before barreling towards the meeting room.

Grasping the metal handle of the door, Akane took a deep breath before pushing it open, falling comically on her face when the door opened before she had applied any force to it.

"Oh, Gino-san, is this the newbie everyone's been talking about?" An orange-haired man crouched next to the fallen woman, grinning widely.

"Yo. I'm Shusei Kagari, a profiler! Sorry 'bout the door; I was gonna go get a snack from the vending machine." He held out his hand to which the brunette took thankfully, brushing dust from her pencil skirt.

"It's fine, Kagari-kun. I'm Akane Tsunemori. I hope we can get along." She turned her attention to the silent raven-haired man in the corner. He avoided her gaze, emerald eyes trained to a manila folder.

"It's good that everyone finally decided to show up. I am the lead detective on this team, Ginoza Nobuchika. We are understaffed as is so I can't treat you like a newbie. Take this," he threw a standard black MWPSB jacket in her direction, "we've been assigned a case. You can become acquainted with everyone else in the car."

Nodding once, she followed behind Kagari as the team filed out the door, picking up the blonde analyst on the way.

"I hate field work…" Shion mumbled, playing with the lighter. She wasn't allowed to smoke in the car but sheer boredom had caused her to flick the lighter on and off as the team drove towards the crime scene.

"Eh, no fair! Shion could bring her lighter inside the car but I couldn't bring my DS? This is obviously favoritism! Gino-san, can I bring—"

"No. You make enough of a ruckus already. I don't need to hear you complaining over some video game for five hours." The head detective cut him off, returning his eyes to the road. The brown-haired man sitting beside him gave out a hearty laugh, turning in his seat to glance at the wide-eyed detective.

"We still haven't introduced everyone, have we? I am Tomomi Masaoka, second in command! If you ever need anything don't hesitate to ask, missy!" He held out his hand, smiling.

Akane nodded, grabbing his hand. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Masaoka-san."

She then turned to her right towards the silent cobalt-eyed woman. The woman gave a small nod. "I am Yayoi Kunizuka, the other profiler on the team. "

"Nice to meet you, Kunizuka-san."

"And I'm Choe Gu-Sung, computer analyst. It's a pleasure to meet you." Eyes closed, he gave a sly grin. Akane reached over the orange-haired man to shake his hand, feeling a bit wary of the Korean.

Kagari laughed at her bewildered expression, patting her on the back sympathetically. "You don't have to worry 'bout Choe! He's a nice guy under all the arrogance and creepy smiles! He's actually a genius; he just doesn't do well with people so that's why he's behind the computer. Speaking of which, why did you bring Choe along, Gino-san?"

"It's none of your concern. I've already explained the situation to Choe."

"You're no fun!" The profiler crossed his arms, pouting. He turned his attention to the window, eyes widening in surprise.

"Ginoza, this is the place where—"

"Yes. This is where we found the body of Mitsuru Sasayama. There's been another murder similar to his. The man's heart had been ripped out of his chest without any signs of an exit wound. The heart itself is also missing from the scene of the crime."

The honey-eyed woman let out a tiny gasp, surprise etched on her face. "H-how is that possible?"

"We don't know. That's why the details of both cases haven't been made public. We've been called in because this is not the second death of similar circumstances. It is the seventh. I've made copies of the case files; I assume everyone other than Tsunemori-san has a copy? Here." Without taking his eyes off the road, Ginoza handed her the same manila folder he had been flipping through before.

"I expect all of you to have read through the case files by the time we make it to the crime scene."

A chorus of groans (mainly coming from Kagari and Shion) erupted in the van as everyone begrudgingly flipped through the pages.

"So, this Sasayama guy was…"

"He was the seventh member of the team. And you are the one who took his position." Ginoza replied, looking at the car mirror to see the brunette's expression. She clenched the fabric of her skirt tightly, looking down.

"I-I promise to catch the person who did this! I won't let him get away with seven murders."

"So, Akane-chan, you already think all of the murders are connected? Even with only seeing two of the case files? Isn't that a bit…. brash?" Kagari questioned.

"Yes. There can't be more than one person who knows how to perform a murder in such a unique way. Even if we pretend that 'ripping out a heart without an exit wound' is something easy to do, none of the murders have been publicized so that rules out any copy-cats."

"Ha! You sure know your stuff, Akane-chan! I was worried you might just be another pretty face who wouldn't be able to handle being a detective. Which reminds me, why did you become a detective?"

She laughed, smiling at the orange-haired profiler. "To be completely honest… I have no idea. I scored really high on my college entrance exams. But, I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. On a campus tour, I got lost. A white-haired man lead me back to the parking lot. He said in exchange for helping me get back to my car I should check out the Criminology classes the college offered. So, I did. I realized immediately that I could help a lot of people if I became a detective."

Kagari's expression changed immediately, turning from one of amusement to annoyance. "That's it? Because you 'felt like it?' Both of my parents were murdered when I was five years old. I've been trying to catch the guy ever since. I never had a chance for a normal life. So, tell me, what made you decide to be a detective?" He glared harshly at the stunned brunette, all pretenses of the goofy, easy-going man erased from his features.

"What did this woman do?"

"Nothing. She's of above average intelligence. Young, healthy, kind, intelligent, the epitome of a perfect human. That's why you need to kill her. Death cannot happen only to the old and evil. Death is impartial."

A raven-haired man sighed, staring down at a dark pit. Dark wings emerged from his back as he turned around to glance at the topaz-eyed man.

"I hate when you boss me around. But, I understand. I'll be back later." Unfurling his wings, the man fell into the pit, disappearing into the darkness.

The puppeteer grinned. Every marionette was now strung from his hands. All the strings were taught and ready to be played. Now, the real game could begin.

A/N: I hope this was ok! Reviews and suggestions would be great! Akane and Kougami will meet in the next chapter, I promise! As of right now, Unit 1 consists of:

Ginoza Nobuchika- head detective

Tomomi Masaoka- second in command (detective)

Shusei Kagari- profiler

Yayoi Kunizuka- profiler

Shion Karanomori- forensic scientist/analyst

Choe Gu-Sung- computer analyst (I had to add him; Choe would have been a great asset to Unit 1)

Akane Tsunemori- detective

Thanks for reading! This has obviously been influenced by my second obsession, Criminal Minds :P

-Isis