Characters: Ichigo, Rukia
Summary: The king falls on Camlann, and she's there to take him to Avalon, just as she always has been. AU.
Pairings: IchiRuki
Warnings/Spoilers: vague spoilers for Deicide arc; AU
Timeline: Deicide arc
Author's Note: Again, the King Arthur legend is my favorite. The bit about a sword being thrown into a body of water to be reforged in the afterlife is, I believe, a bit from Celtic mythology, and in the King Arthur legend it was Bedwyr (Bedivere, if you don't want to use the Welsh spelling) who threw Excalibur back into the water.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
When the king falls on the sandy shore, he has vanquished his foe but lies gravely wounded, his body spent and his spirit broken by the prolonged fight. He stares into the sky and sees that all he has fought for amounts to nothing.
He can no longer use his sword, Excalibur, and as it is thrown back into the waters, to be forged anew for him in the afterlife, for a moment it catches the sun, and then it is caught by her, as she rises from the water.
It's never been a good thing when he's on the ground and can't get up. Ichigo's found that one out the hard way.
"Now you've gone and done it, haven't you?"
From the water Excalibur came, and to the water it will return. But the lady who dwells there will bring back to Avalon the king who always wielded it.
The king who always did so in her name.
"Eh, I can't complain." Ichigo smirks through the pain in his limbs. "Did what I came to do, didn't I?"
Rukia still has the impish humor shining on her pale face, but there's a sadness underlying wide, dark eyes. "I'm sorry, Ichigo."
Regret, maybe.
As the survivors look on, too stunned to cry out or mourn or say a word, the king is lifted onto the lady's barge. He will be taken to Avalon, the isle of apples, a place of rest.
A place where the once and future king can heal, until he is needed again.
"Shut up, Rukia." Ichigo tries to sit up and fails. "Don't get sappy on me, okay? It's always creepy when you get sappy."
A laugh bubbles up from her throat, and Ichigo stops and stares, struck by the sound.
Rukia smiles softly, gently, her eyes like the deep dusk of a summer evening as she holds out her hand. "Come on, Ichigo." Never has there been a more reassuring voice.
And when Ichigo takes her hand, there is no more pain.
They disappear into the mists, to a place lost to time.
To Avalon.