Figured I’d give some bonus Shion content with this one-shot on how she became Espada from her perspective. This one-shot is based on the Ao3 fic Set the Narrative on Fire which sees Mei become Espada. Check it out after this, it’s incredible!
Warnings: Spoilers for Saber up to episode 26, Kento’s trauma, and probably slightly more than Rider-typical violence. I wrote this months ago so I’m not fully certain on this.
There was blood on Shion's hands. It wasn't her. It was Touma's. Okay, maybe a little of Kaede's and Daishinji's. Some of it might've even been from Ogami. But none of it was hers.
She and Mei had just patched them all up after yet another battle she couldn't directly participate in. Touma was in bad shape. He'd nearly lost control of that new form of his and it has wrecked his body. His breathing was shallow and pained as he dozed on the couch while Mei looked over him in his bookstore.
How many times did she have to drag him off the battlefield already? And how much longer can her emotional support keep up?
"Are you okay?" Daishinji asked. Though he hadn't been nearly as bad, he'd still been of bloody mess. He was curled up in one of the reading chairs, facing away from her.
"Of course I'm not!" She shouted, causing Daishinji to wince and cover his ears.
Oh right, enhanced hearing. Shion thought before speaking in a quieter tone. "There isn't much I can do out there. Seriously, I watched you all get the stuffing beat out of you and there wasn't anything I could do to help."
"Shion-chan..." Kaede muttered, looking a little less worse for wear. She was sitting on another reading chair, looking at her.
Touma twitched in his sleep and Shion gritted her teeth. She was sick of this. Sick of seeing her friends suffer like this. Sick of being unable to help. Sick of being a damsel in distress when the Megid did come after her.
"Why can't I have a sword?" She asked.
"We don't have spare swords just lying around." Daishinji ran his fingers over his own sword. "At least not ones powerful enough for these threats."
"But you do have one."
Shion's words made Daishinji tense. He looked over at her, eyes darting down when she tried to meet his gaze. "No." He said firmly.
"Ikazuchi!" She ran over to him and grabbed his arm, shaking him roughly. "No one's using it. I could take over as Espada-"
"No!" Daishinji shouted. He covered his face with his hand as he stood. "It doesn't work like that."
A shouting match was barely avoided by Touma jolting upright, hacking and wheezing. By the time she and Mei helped even out his breathing, Daishinji had vanished when she turned to ask more questions.
Next thing she knew, she was in the Northern Base to get clean clothes after Touma got blood on her clothes.
And this was a recent addition to my wardrobe as well... She thought as she went to Rintaro's room, feeling like it wasn't right to take the clothes of a dead man by going into Kento's room.
His room was immaculate and there was a change of clothes resting on his desk, neatly folded. Grabbing the shirt kicked up the dust that'd settled over them.
Shion stumbled away, sneezing and coughing. As she moved away from the cloud of dust, her back hit a bookcase and two objects clattered to the ground.
They were Wonder Ride Books. She knelt to pick them up. Lamp Do Alangina and a book she had never seen before. Yellow. This was Kento's as well... But why would Rintaro leave these here when Reika labeled Touma-san a traitor? She thought.
The cover of the unknown book had some sort of wolf-like creature. The words on the front were hard to understand at first but what this was about was obvious. Raiju, the companion of Raijin, the Shinto god of lightning... Shion thought. Should I give this to Touma-san or even Kae-chan? Give them a new weapon to their arsenal? Or...?
She made her way to Kento's room in the base. The door was closed, but not locked.
What's the worst that could happen? She thought as she looked around the missing swordsman's room. If it's too much for me, I'll admit defeat, but what if it isn't? If Kaede can pull it off, then so can I.
The sword was locked in a chest under Kento's bed. Shion only knew this because Mei had told her while she was visiting during her shift. Rintaro had hidden the key behind one of the stones in the southern wall of the room, Mei didn't tell her which one because she couldn't remember which stone it was.
She had to change clothes by the time she found the right spot. The stone slipped out and landed on her foot. She hissed like a cat as she pushed the stone off and grabbed the key. She had enough cafe mishaps and stepped onto battlefields enough times to knows her toes were completely fine, but it was painful enough to force her to hobble over to the chest.
The key fit in the old lock, but it took a bit of strength and jiggling the lock around to unlock the chest, a horrid creaking sound echoing as she lifted the lid.
But there it was. A Swordriver and Kento's Seiken, Ikazuchi, laying on a pile of blankets.
She held these magical swords before. Heck, she and Mei even helped Yuri transform. But this time felt different.
It was far heavier than she thought it would be. She felt static lifting her hair as she picked both items up and inserted Ikazuchi into the driver. The air crackled with electricity stemming from this Seiken's magic as she put it to her waist.
The weight grew heavier as the belt wrapped around her. Sparks flew from her fingers as she opened both Wonder Ride Books.
I'm not sure this will work. Shion thought. The Raiju one isn't even the right book. I know Kento always used the Aladdin-based book but the Wonder Combo has the book based on Cerberus. I've never even seen this book until now.
Regardless of her uncertainty, she slammed the books into the corresponding slots of the Swordriver. It flashed and grew so heavy; she almost fell to the ground. No... She thought. 'Heavy' isn't the right word for this... It's more like this is pulling me in, draining my energy while doing so... Still worth a shot... Right...?
Her knees shook as she grabbed the handle of the blade while the standby played. More electricity was spinning around her, crackling and sending sparks flying.
"Henshin!" She shouted, pulling the sword as hard as she could. Lightning flooded her veins before she collapsed.
When she woke up, she swore she smelled like ash, every hair standing on its end.
"What were you thinking?" Ogami's voice came from behind her.
She combed her hair down and turned around, feeling pain in every muscle as she did. Ogami was giving her a sharp glare. She could see Kento's Seiken sitting on the table behind him. It was covered in a thick layer of soot.
Seriously, what had she been thinking? Did she really think things would be so simple?
"I just wanted to help you guys more." She couldn't look up to meet Ogami's stern glare as she tried to get her hair to lie flat.
"I know that." Ogami's voice softened. "I know you mean well, Miss, but this is dangerous. The Seirei don't like their Seiken being handled by anyone that isn't their current wielder."
"Even if the current wielder is dead?" Shion asked.
Ogami frowned as he picked up Ikazuchi, turning it back and forth in his hands. "That depends."
"What does that mean?"
"It means, the Seirei are fickle sometimes. They choose who they will let wield them. Normally, when a Seiken chooses a swordsman, its Seirei will stay with them until their death." Ogami put the sword down, dusting soot off his hands. "Then the Seirei will mourn its master's death. It will resist anyone it finds to be inferior or against their ideals. It could take years before a suitable replacement is found, and it's unlikely to be some passing human."
"So it resisted me because Raito wasn't ready for a new user." Shion sighed. I should've figured that would happen. I'm no Touma or Kaede after all.
"You did well given the circumstances." Ogami said. He slapped her on the shoulder in a way that was meant to be gentle but sent shocks of pain through her chest. "We pick protegees and train them for years specifically with the intention of passing on the Seiken. Even then, it can take months for the Seirei within to warm up to a new wielder."
Some time later, still undeterred from becoming a swordswoman, Shion decided to try asking Daishinji again.
"Are you trying to discourage me after all this time?" She asked upon hearing that the Sword of Logos stopped trying to convince people to leave their entire life behind on a fraction's chance they'd succeed in the guild decades ago.
"I'm being realistic." Daishinji said. "I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a lot going on right now. I can't waste time on a student that has a one in a ten thousand chance of succeeding."
That fact surprised her. "Is the chance really that low?"
"Yes." Daishinji pulled out Suzune. "For one, only one in a hundred humans can hear the Seiken."
"As in the voice of the Seirei within?" Shion inched towards the Seiken of Sound. That was an invitation, right? He wanted to see if she could hear the Seirei of his Seiken.
Daishinji turned away, holding the sword out of her reach. "No funny business." He said sternly. "Don't try to lie. I can tell if you're faking."
She nodded. With a heavy sigh, Daishinji turned and handed her his sword.
It was different than Ikazuchi had been. It was oddly light. Each touch reverberated through the whole weapon. The whole thing felt almost hollow as she held it up to her ear.
Daishinji rolled his eyes as she pressed the strange metal against her ear.
"It's a sword, not a conch shell." he said.
"I know that." Shion pouted as she lowered the sword. I didn't know that. I thought hearing was literal. Maybe this was subtler than that?
She tapped Suzune lightly and felt the vibrations go through it. Tapping different areas caused different sounds. It was a musical weapon befitting its element, she wondered if she could play it. She slid her fingers across, tapping as she went. She'd practiced guitar a little bit in her free time, so she found herself beating out a familiar melody.
Suzune vibrated in her hand. She could hear Naoto vocalizing as if in happiness. She glanced up at Daishinji, who was looking down at his Seiken with a smile on his face.
"Congratulations, you're one in a hundred." He said, extending his hand. She handed over the weapon.
"I suspected as much." Daishinji said. "You fit in well here. That's the easy part. A very simple yes or no, are you even capable of handling a sword?"
She titled her head. "What's the hard part?"
"Of the one in a hundred that can hear the swords, only one in those hundred make it through training. It's not something to be taken on lightly." The swordsmith responded.
"Quit it, Tetsu. You're not gonna scare her away with that." Ogami shouted from the landing above. "She's made up her mind. Let me run her through some trials, see how she does."
"I'll be running the first trial." Daishinji didn't look up at Ogami. He moved over to a bookcase, scanning the shelves.
Ogami sighed loudly. "Come on, you know it makes more sense for me-"
"You're going to let her off easy." Daishinji pulled out several books. "You're too soft on her."
"I'm not soft on anyone!" Ogami stomped down the stairs.
"Yes, you are." The swordsmith danced away when his colleague stormed up to him.
"I'm nice, not soft."
"You're too nice and you're soft."
Shion watched the two men bicker back and forth. Knowing that they won't reach calming point in the argument anytime soon, Shion cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "When are these trials going to start?"
Both men stopped in place and glanced at each other.
"Tomorrow morning." Daishinji said firmly. "Be here by seven."
I'm not complaining about the early time. Some of my co-workers get up earlier than that. Shion thought. Daishinji-san's testing me. I'm not going to stumble over something as simple as that.
"I'll be there."
The training was tough, and she had to juggle that and her waitress job at Magi Manga Cafe while doing so. But when Kento was revealed as Calibur, an opportunity arose.
She was watching Touma's childhood friend fight Reika as Sabela while holding the Swordriver containing Ikazuchi. She knew that no matter who won this fight, someone was losing their Seiken. She didn't care about the reason; she wasn't going to let that happen. Touma is in a vulnerable position, she wants to protect him and fight by Kaede's side.
Suddenly, as if in response to her thoughts, she heard Ikazuchi's voice, its Seirei, Raito, speaking to her. "I feel your desire to protect the Swordsman of Flames and fight with the Swordswoman of Ice..."
She gasped softly as he continued. "Given these circumstances, I shall grant you my power. Wield my blade to your heart's content, my chosen warrior."
This is it. Now or never.
Shion put the Swordriver to her waist. It wrapped around her, heavy and tight. Electricity crackled around her as she looked up.
Calibur was staring at her. She couldn't see his eyes, but she could still feel the heat in Kento's expression.
He stepped towards her, blocking several of Sabela's blows without turning his head. Kaede, Touma, Mei, Rintaro, Daishinji, and Ogami all looked at her in disbelief.
Realizing she haven't grabbed the Wonder Ride Books, she lunged towards the table they were was on, feeling thunderous magic running through her veins. Kento lunged in the same direction.
"Shion-chan!" She heard Kaede yell her name as she swept the books off the table.
She stumbled back as Kurayami came down right where her hand had been, sending splinters everywhere. She covered her face with one hand, but from there, both of her hands were moving almost on their own accord.
She flipped open the Wonder Ride Books. Lamp Do Alangina! Raiju no Arashi! Katsute inazuma no yō ni hayaku ugoku koto ga dekiru ōkami ga imashita... (雷獣の嵐! かつて稲妻のように速く動くことができるオオカミがいました…, Thunder Beast's Storm! Once there was a wolf capable of moving as fast as lightning strikes...)
Lightning curled around her, her hair frizzed and her skin tingled. Everyone was staring at her now, moving towards her, but they moved slow. It felt like time had nearly stopped as she slammed both books into the belt.
It was like last time. Shion felt heavy as the sword sucked her in and she found herself in a library surrounded by lightning. But it didn't feel like the last time at all. The electricity felt like it was flowing with her rather than against her. She grabbed the hilt and pulled. Ikazuchi Battou! (黄雷抜刀!)
"Henshin!" She shouted before she performed a single vertical uppercut slash as Raito copied her movement behind her before transforming into a genie and a wolf made of yellow light and circle her, forming the armor with the slash forming the visor. Kaminari Kemono! Raiju Do Alangina! Ikazuchi Nisatsu! Denki to negai no chikara kara umareru, aratana-ryoku ga tokihanata reta! (雷獣! 雷獣ドアランジーナ! 黄雷二冊! 電気と願いの力から生まれる、新たな力が解き放たれた!, Thunder Beast! Raiju Do Alangina! Ikazuchi: Volume 2! Coming forth from the power of electricity and wishes, a new power has been unlocked!)
When the light faded, everyone looked on in shock and disbelief at what they were seeing.
Now sporting brand new armor on the right side of the body alongside the armor on the left side, Kamen Rider Espada has been reborn!
Shion looked down at the armor now covering her body. She could feel the power flowing through her. I... I actually did it... She thought. I transformed... This is incredible.
"How?" Kento whispered, breaking the stillness that had occurred while everyone was frozen at what Shion had become.
At this point, Reika had left with Rintaro in tow, disappearing into smoke.
"Am I not worthy anymore?" Kento asked.
Shion was confused by what he meant until she felt Ikazuchi vibrate in her hand. Kento wasn't talking to her, but Ikazuchi wouldn't answer him. Not anymore.
Go on the offensive. She thought as her body moved with an instinct she'd never had. She lunged forward, swinging the sword in quick, small arcs.
Kento was caught off guard, but he had no issue blocking the assault. She kept swinging. Nothing landed, but he was being knocked back a little with every strike.
When his back hit the wall, his shoulders tensed. He swung back, weaving right through Shion's defenses to land a hit on her right shoulder. She nearly dropped the sword as he shoved her back.
"Letting Ikazuchi guide you will only get you so far." He said, putting his blade to her throat.
She froze as the blade scraped the armor at her neck. It wouldn't cut, but she could feel the dark energy radiating from the weapon. She didn't want to know the consequences of being hit.
Kento looked around at the battlefield. Everyone was staring up at the two of them in stunned shock.
He lowered Kurayami, hand coming to his head. He winced as his transformation faded. He looked up at Shion as his eyes flashed purple and his brow creased. "This path leads to death." He muttered. "I can't be responsible for more death."
She took a step towards him, extending a hand. He flinched away. Darkness swirled behind him, and he stepped back into the portal.
Shion tried to grab him, but her hand only found air.
She stared at the spot where he'd been for a moment before reaching down to pull the books free from the belt. Her transformation faded and she looked at Kaede exhausted.
She smiled as she held her for support. "You did it, Shion-chan."
