Red Royal Flush

XVI. Winning bluff

*Spotify playlist for the chapter, brought to you by @_anasta: Red Royal Flush on Spotify

T.W.: slight internalized homophobia

Zenitsu woke up to the sound of doors banging into their mortise. The fighters around him all jolted awake, sliding out of their covers in haste and rising to their feet — they didn't groan, nor complain. They just stared at the entry of their dormitory, Adam's apples bobbing down and up in fear.

"Stand up, minion," Inosuke muttered with gritted teeth as he realized that Zenitsu wasn't moving. 

"What's going on?"

"Just stand up!"

 Zenitsu's gaze darted to the entry. Several people were stomping down the corridor, and their powerful strides were growing closer. Shit, what the hell is going on?  

"Stand the fuck up!" another fighter yelled. 

He obliged before the dormitory's door was thrown open. 

The tension in the room became quickly unbearable. At the other end of the fighters' gazes stood three Imperial Guards, two of which Zenitsu could easily put a name on — Shinobu, the lady that had more than once guided him through the palace's corridors, and Kanroji, the guard that Tanjiro had sent away upon seeing Zenitsu crying in his room. The third was a small man with bright blue eyes.

Zenitsu looked around, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He tried to find a clue on the face of his companions, an explanation as to why they had received such a visit. Something was off and he needed answers. 

And an answer he found as the other fighter's shifted their attention over to him — dozens of eyes staring at him, judging him, conveying more through silence than they ever could out loud. Some looked concerned, others angry; and, of course, the dark-haired male had a coy expression on his face. 

What's going on... 

Zenitsu looked back at the Imperial Guards right in time to see the small man pointing an accusing finger at him, "Zenitsu Agatsuma, you are to follow us at once." 

The guard displayed a letter with an imperial sign stamped on it. "Orders from the Emperor," he added. 

Zenitsu was frozen in place. That was it. That was the end. They had discovered who he was. Did Tanjiro... No. Tanjiro wouldn't do that, he couldn't believe that. As much as they had been enemies before, the prince and him were now on good terms. He wouldn't do such a thing to him. He wouldn't.

Or would he?

He didn't have much time to give it a thought as his arms were firmly gripped by both female guards. They were there to imprison him. To kill him. He could feel it in their grasp — they hated him from the depths of their souls, burning rage clenching their jaws, selling their empathy to the devil, and locking it away together with their reason. Soon, he was escorted out of the room, dooming silence left behind. 

He risked a glance at Shinobu as he was dragged out of the building, nearly stumbling on the stairs in the process. If there was anyone that could help him, no matter how odd it could seem, it was her. She had talked to him. She knew how incapable of killing a prince he was. No matter what Masahi had seen in him, she surely hadn't. 

But as their gazes met, the blond's lips parted in terror — Shinobu's purple eyes weren't as empty as they always were, they were boiling with fury. It was hopeless, so much so that he wasn't astonished to feel her shoving him forward with contempt and disgust.

"Look forward, exile. I won't repeat myself twice," she spat.

The rest of the travel was unbearable. Dark thoughts flashed through Zenitsu's mind — a true mausoleum in honor of his downfall to come — rendering any effort to reassure himself useless. For each 'maybe they aren't here to kill me' stood a 'you're delusional' at the other end. For each 'maybe there's hope' waited a 'there's never been hope' around the corner. For each 'Tanjiro will help me'  came a 'he won't help you' as a response.