Things quickly advanced from the moment that Yuki announced himself the new King.  The display he gave was powerful enough that he had no one questioning his declaration.  In fact, because he used his power to broadcast his announcement to the entire Capital it gave everyone further confidence.  They saw how powerful he was and knew with Yuki that Atlantis would finally be safe for decades to come.

Once he made the announcement, he got the Council to carry out the formalities in the ceremony.  They already had everything prepared.  So Yuki easily co-opted it as something they planned to reveal.  The Councilors had little maneuvering room and begrudgingly worked with him through the whole thing.  While only for show, as the real Throne sat deep in the Palace, Yuki became King before all of Atlantis.

His fate was sealed.  It was his choice.  As his choice, he accepted it and he could move forward.

Chapter 285 – Return to Peace

After all of the excitement ended, the Council summoned him before them.  He insisted on bringing his friends with him along with all of those that they marked as criminals.  Once the door sealed, Dimitris leaned forward from behind their desk.  “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I thought that was pretty clear out there, Councilor.”  Yuki grinned, having played them all against their own game.  He could see how frustrated they all were.  Even though they were in the room privately, nothing they said could change what happened.  All of their plans died the moment Yuki moved.  “You should be thanking me.  Both the military and royal guard saved face now that it’s been revealed the rebels were stealing their identities to sow discord.”

Dimitris gritted his teeth, annoyed to have to deal with a teenager and a foreigner.  “You think you’ll be King?”

“You made me King.  That’s what the public saw today.  And given that even the nobility saw rebels had snuck into your ranks.  You don’t have the weight you used to anymore.”

“You think you’ve won?”

Yuki grinned knowingly.  He saw them already making new plans.  “Won, no.  This is a long-term game we’re playing.  This battle goes to me, but the war continues.”  The grin turned into a smirk quickly.  “Just remember I mean to win the war as well.  You old men have sat behind your traditions and fears ruling this country from the shadows.”

He stepped forward out of his group of friends to the Council desk.  “Let me make this clear.  The secret war in this Palace you waged against the last King isn’t over.  My promise to you frightened old men right here is that I will see things changed.  You can either work with me or I will see you dragged out before the mob outside of these gates.”  A dark shadow fell over Yuki’s eyes to emphasize his resolve.

The Councilors all looked around at each other murmuring.  He quickly came to a settlement.  They were going to give up their current plans and fold to Yuki.  However, it was a war as Yuki said.  It wasn’t over.  “What do you want?”

“Fumiko and Haruo come with me.  Thanks to my little show out there, everyone thinks that they aren’t even rebels anymore, so you don’t have to explain anything.”  Yuki walked back over to the others that came in.  He made sure that they were with him as they were part of the deal.  “I want Simonides reinstated into the military along with Athene and Nerine.”

When Yuki walked over to Eudokia, the Councilors couldn’t keep quiet.  “Do you expect us to release her as well?  Eudokia is the one that masterminded the whole thing and killed countless people!”

Yuki came to a stop in front of her.  He faced her staring straight into her eyes.  Their reversed positions actually had a bit of irony.  He held the dominant role with everything dancing around in his palm and she could only accept his whims.

Yet despite the reversal, she maintained the determined and unwavering stare.  Nothing Yuki did to her would faze her.  He knew that well enough.  But he still hoped to see even the slight of a flinch from her.  The longer he stared the worse the tension in the room became.  No one else liked that he did not give an answer.

“What are you planning?”

Yuki spun back around to look at the Council.  “Nothing like that.  No, Eudokia violated your laws and must be punished for it.  She lied to all of us.  All I want is for her to rot in a cell for the rest of her life.”

“Traitors must be executed!  Especially ones like her!”

Quickly, he flashed a deathly glare at all of the Councilors.  It quickly put them all into their place and shut them up without a single word.  In their silent acceptance, he had Demosthenes release everyone.  “Good talk.  We’ll be seeing more of each other.”  Yuki walked out of the Council room with his friends following.

They all finally had their freedom.

Seiji rushed up to the left side of Yuki.  Over on the right was Saki and Yumi.  Unlike the others, Seiji had been out of the loop on everything.  “You plan to explain what happened, Yuki?  How’d you do all that?  Like the swap with everyone and the assassins, everything!”

While Yuki laughed, Saki shoved Yuki a little.  “Yeah, you even manipulated me!  Do you know how much planning we already had in place?!”

“You had a good start to a plan, but there were still things that it didn’t resolve.  This put everything into place.”

“What the hell is going on?  Were you all in on this?!”

Pointing his thumb over at Saki, Yuki started out with her.  “Yeah, I realized that Saki and Yori were making plans with the Titans.”  He saw the shocked look on Seiji’s face.  “Did you really think that Rheia was just chasing Saki for the fun of it?”

“It started out that way,” commented Saki, shifting her eyes away.

“Saki and Yori were in talks with Rheia to make a rescue attempt on Fumiko and Haruo.  Their plan was to swap out the real ones with created fakes so that everyone thought that they were dead.  Then we just leave this all behind.”

“It would have worked!” insisted Saki.

“Yes, the rescue would have, but the Council still viewed me as a threat and the nobility all saw us all as rebels.  We just got special treatment from Demosthenes.  So I had to fix that so that the only ones that still saw that was the Council.  They’re now in a position where they can’t make any open moves against me since no one trusts them right now.”

Seiji nodded as if he followed it all.  Everyone doubted it.  “So then you swapped everyone out, but what about the attack?”

“I knew the Council had assassins placed in the execution grounds.  They actually planned to kill all of us and sweep it under the rug as rebel work.  So I had Saki and Rheia take out all of their assassins with Yori relaying positions to them.  The actual attack came from Rheia.”

“Saki and Yori weren’t next to me?!”  Seiji started staring deeply at the two of them.  He had a suspicious look in his eye wanting to be sure that they were real.

Chiharu piped up, since Yuki was laughing too hard.  “They were stand-ins by the Titans that were in on the plan with their Commander.”  The answer made Seiji back up and question himself as he never even noticed it.

“And the rest was just information manipulation.”

“So what’s next?” Seiji asked, pointing to the most obvious question.  It was the one that everyone stared at Yuki for.  They all knew what his decision meant for him.  It wasn’t just the weight that he would bear either.  There were further reaching impacts.

Playing it off like it was nothing, he smiled.   “I’ll be King tomorrow.”

“Yeah I know that, but—“

“Don’t worry.” 

Yuki continued on while the others just hovered around staring as he walked away.  They didn’t know what he had planned anymore.  All they could see was a friend leaving them behind.

The next day came with surprising ease.  The Council did nothing more to oppose Yuki.  All of the guards and escorts disappeared.  In fact, some of the guards even seemed to look favorably at them, thinking that they were part of Yuki’s team in taking down the rebellion.  Everything seemed to be at peace, though they weren’t sure how long it would be.  They all knew the Council wouldn’t stay quiet forever.  But they still didn’t have their own move yet.

“All hail King Charalampos Chryses!” declared the royal guard.  The official process of becoming King ended and they presented Yuki before the entire nobility within the grand hall.

Saki leaned over to Yuki whispering to him.  “Charalampos?”  The rest of his friends stood around him, now commonly acknowledged as the ones that fought to bring down the rebellion.

“Yeah, I needed an Atlantean name.  Makes it easier for everyone than thinking some foreigner is sitting on the throne.”  He leaned back in the large throne that completely swallowed him up.  The guards already escorted their guests forward as he instructed earlier.

Waiting until Simonides, Athene and Nerine approached, Yuki leaned forward a bit.  He motioned off the guards giving a wide gesture to the gathered audience.  The three knelt down before their King.  “To correct mistakes made during the rebellion, I return the titles and privileges stripped from you.  Please rise, Captain Simonides, Commander Athene and Second Lieutenant Nerine.”  They rose back up with Yuki returning their badges.

Applause broke out through the halls led by Yuki.  He smiled down at them.  However, he lifted his hand back up to bring order back to the chamber.  Turning back to Demosthenes, he retrieved an item and walked out to Simonides.  “As is tradition, Captain Simonides I grant to you with this shield the honor of the name Tethys.”

Knelt down before Yuki once more, Simonides accepted the personally crafted shield.  Yuki pulled him back up to stand.  “Rise, Captain Simonides Tethys.  Continue to be the shield that protects the innocent of Atlantis.”

“With every breath that I have.”

Yuki then stepped up towards the throne.  He stared out at the crowd once more to address them.  “While it is not unusual to have someone as young as myself as your King, I’m still inexperienced in everything.  I’m more used to behind the scenes work than running a country.  So I announce today that I’m making General Demosthenes Alexander my Regent and Advisor until I mature enough for this throne behind me.”

The decision sent some shock through the crowd not expecting to be hearing such news.  It was something that Yuki didn’t make known to anyone.  But the natural question came quickly to everyone’s mind.

Anticipating their question, Yuki prepared the next announcement.  “With the General stepping down, I’m announcing today that I’m promoting Captain Simonides Tethys to General of the Army.  His loyalty and respect for those that serve under him should be an inspiration to every leader.”

Simonides bowed his head to Yuki once more.  However, it was Athene that reacted in place of Simonides.  She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.  Tears started to fall down her cheeks, ones that only Simonides seemed to understand.  Though Yori smiled a little seeing Simonides giving her a little support.

“As my next act as King, I’m going to visit all of the villages and towns in Atlantis!  The King is the leader of the people and for the people.  I don’t plan to stay hiding in this Palace.”

Thus, Yuki’s month-long trip around Atlantis began.  None of his friends knew what Yuki was going on to do.  They just kept following him around to see if things really were to end.  He never said goodbye to them, so they just waited around.

The last stop he made was back to the village of Skoupa, which was affected by their arrival.  Yuki helped out with the repairs and smoothed out the relations.  Even before he arrived, they heard word of what happened.  His coronation spread to all corners.  The excitement of a new King and a long term of stability bolstered everyone.  Even more so seeing their King all the way out on the border.

It was early morning.  They woke up early in Skoupa to a grand morning feast to send off their King.  After everything ended, Yuki led everyone out and back to the South Gate.  Along with him on the trip were Simonides and Demosthenes.

Yuki stared at the large Command building of the vast complex.  He already had Abeiron appointed as the new Captain and though things were a little chaotic for the new Captain, the troops were in high spirits.  Even more so to see their old Captain.

“We’re back at the beginning,” Yuki said, everyone gathered around him.

Saki and the others stared at him with the sense of things finally reaching their end.  “Yuki…”

He turned around to face all of them.  “Everyone…I know that this was not exactly what we planned when coming here.  But things don’t work out perfectly.”  Yuki turned to look at Athene coming up, having taken care of her orders.  He turned back around to Demosthenes and Simonides.  “This is where we part ways for now.”

“Yuki, what are you…” questioned Seiji, jumping in first.  Though everyone else leaned in quickly behind him trying to be sure they were hearing him right.

Looking back at them confused, Yuki grinned.  “What you thought I was leaving you guys behind?”

“But what about Atlantis and Throne?” Saki reminded.

“Demosthenes will be in charge during my absence, it’s why I made him Regent.  And my father was able to go hopping around the world, so I figured I should be able to as well.  I still got things to settle back in Japan before I truly become the King.”  Everyone gathered around Yuki grabbing onto him glad to still have their friend with them.

Yuki walked up to Simonides, shaking his hand.  “Keep up the good work.  I’ve heard a lot about what you’ve done here.  It’s not going to be easy, but I plan to see changes made.”

“It’ll be my honor, Your Highness!”

Staring over at Demosthenes, Yuki approached him.  “This is your punishment, old man.  It’s your job to live and live long enough to see everything that the Council’s done under my father’s rule undone.  I won’t allow you to die until then, understand?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”  Demosthenes handed over a package to Yuki before he turned away.  “Good luck.”

Yuki looked back at his friends.  He threw his fist up into the air in excitement.  “Let’s return home, everyone!”